Tension grips West Bengal’s political landscape as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) voter list deadline approaches, backed by a Supreme Court order for February 28 publication. Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal detailed enhancements to the forthcoming final roll on Thursday.
Special notations will highlight ‘Under Judicial Review’ for litigated cases and ‘Deleted’ for excised names, he said, with the revision impacting nearly 6.007 million entries statewide. This move addresses transparency demands amid partisan clashes.
Calcutta High Court, in a strategic high-level huddle under Chief Justice Sujoy Paul, requisitioned 100 judges each from Odisha and Jharkhand High Courts for discrepancy verifications. Participants included Agarwal, Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravarty, Acting DGP Piyush Pandey, Kolkata CP Supratim Sarkar, and Special Observer Subrata Gupta.
The Election Commission’s ambitious SIR aims to eliminate bogus voters, processing massive claims with judicial muscle. Supreme Court nods to external officers ensure over 8 million checks meet timelines, allowing phased rollouts if needed. Mamata Banerjee’s Supreme Court challenge was dismissed; BJP praises the fake-name purge.
As lists finalize, these tags could expose anomalies, tilting the scales in West Bengal’s fiercely contested electoral arena.