The Election Commission is unsure of meeting the Supreme Court deadline to publish the list of voters with data discrepancies as Booth Level Officers did not receive the required software in time, an official told PTI.
Earlier, in compliance with SC order, the ECI directed West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (WBCEO) Manoj Agarwal to display the names of voters falling under the ‘logical discrepancies’ and ‘unmapped’ categories by January 24 across the state.
"We did not get the software till Friday night. Even if the software reaches us at the last moment, it will be extremely difficult to download, print and display such a huge volume of data within a few hours," a senior official at the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office said.
"BLOs are already engaged in the hearing process. Logistically, this is a major challenge," he added.
The list to be published will include around 1.26 crore names having data discrepancies as well as "unmapped" voters.
Officials said the final-day delay has created uncertainty over complying with the directions.
"We have the data, but the field-level execution depends entirely on BLOs," another official said, adding that "meeting the court's timeline may not be feasible under the circumstances".
Meanwhile, more than 3 lakh voters categorised as "unmapped" failed to appear for hearings despite being served notices, an official said.
"Around 10 per cent of the unmapped voters did not turn up for hearings," he said.
To speed up the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the EC has decided to appoint 294 additional senior micro-observers at the assembly segment level, an official said.
"The objective is to ensure transparency and faster disposal of pending cases," he said.
A total of 7.62 crore enumeration forms were distributed among voters in the state.
EC on December 16 released the draft electoral rolls for West Bengal after completion of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) phase one. The draft roll had deletion of more than 58 lakh dead and bogus voters from the list.
Around 1.26 crore voters, whose names are on the draft list, have been issued verification hearing notices because of "logical discrepancies" or their entries not mapped with the 2002 electoral rolls when the last SIR happened.
"Logical discrepancies" include incorrect or mismatched fathers' names, voters with more than six children, implausible age differences with parents or grandparents, and people above 45 shown as "new voters", officials said.
The hearings are scheduled to conclude on February 7, while the final electoral roll is slated to be published on February 14. The EC has, however, indicated that the deadline may be extended.
(With inputs from PTI)