KOLKATA: A day ahead of the Election Commission of India (ECI) set to publish the first supplementary list of voters marked as ‘under adjudication’, Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul on Thursday held a meeting with state Home Secretary Sanghamitra Ghosh, Director General of Police Siddh Nath Gupta, and Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Ranade.
According to the sources in the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal, the meeting is being seen as significant especially ahead of the publication of the list of adjudicated voters.
On February 28, the ECI had published the final list of more than 6.44 crore eligible electors in the state following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. It had also released a separate list of over 60.6 lakh voters categorized under logical discrepancies and unmapped categories.
Following directives from the Supreme Court of India, these 60.6 lakh voters were marked as ‘under adjudication’, with their eligibility to be determined by judicial officers. Sources in the CEO office in Kolkata said that around 23 lakh of these cases have been disposed of so far.
Around 700 judicial officers, including 200 from neighbouring Bihar and Jharkhand, have been engaged in the scrutiny process. A senior administrative officer in the state indicated that law and order issues may have been discussed during the meeting, as tensions could arise if a large number of voters do not find their names in the first supplementary list.
Major political parties, including the ruling All India Trinamool Congress, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, and the CPI-M-led Left Front, have announced candidates for the upcoming two-phase Assembly elections scheduled for April 23 and 29. This comes amid uncertainty over the status of more than 60 lakh voters awaiting clearance.
The ruling party has announced candidates for all 291 Assembly seats, while the BJP has fielded candidates in 144 seats in the first phase. The Left Front has initially nominated candidates in 192 constituencies, with the remaining expected to be announced. The Indian National Congress has not yet released its list of candidates as of Tuesday.
Although 23 lakh cases have been disposed of, the exact number of rejected voters among them is not yet clear. Trinamool Congress, CPI-M, and Congress, unlike the BJP, have urged the ECI to conduct elections in a way that allows all genuine voters, including those under adjudication, to be included in the electoral rolls in time to vote.
On Sunday, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar stated that the total number of eligible voters in the state stands at 6.44 crore, compared to the earlier figure of 7.04 crore published after the SIR exercise.
Political observers believe that, apart from over 64 lakh voters who were found to be dead, duplicate, absent, shifted, or did not attend SIR hearings, the adjudicated voters could significantly influence election outcomes in around 100 Assembly constituencies. These include regions with large minority and Matua populations such as Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and East Bardhaman.
“It’s statistically significant considering huge number of adjudicated voters in Bengal. There are various political narratives flying around because neither Trinamool Congress nor BJP seek proper clarifications from the Commission for exact figure of these voters and they belong to which community,” felt political analyst Subhomoy Moitra.
“Ruling party will try to make people understand that they are branded as ‘under adjudication’ because of the BJP and the Commission while the saffron camp will claim that proper list of electors will provide a positive outcome in the elections in their favour,” he added.