Kolkata: Chief electoral officer (CEO) of West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, on Tuesday assured that no names of genuine voters will be dropped from the electoral roll even as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) took off in the state.
Agarwal also flagged the sluggish rate of appointment of booth level agents by political parties in the state. Even though booth level officers (BLOs) have been appointed for all the 80,000 odd booths in the state, only around 18,000 Booth Level Agents have been appointed by political parties.
“I would like to assure you that not a single legitimate voter’s name would be excluded from the list. We are hopeful that it would be a 100 percent fair voter list,” Agarwal told media persons in Kolkata.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced the roll-out of SIR in 12 states and Union Territories. Of these, four – Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal – are due to go to polls in 2026.
“The voter list has been frozen. Printing of enumeration forms and training of BLOs for the BLO app started on Tuesday,” said Agarwal.
HT had earlier reported that around 45% of the voters’ names in the present electoral roll were not matching with the 2002 voters’ list when the last SIR was held in West Bengal: Officials
“We didn’t have time in Bihar. We have got the time in Bengal. So, there’s no opportunity to create any confusion. The increase in voters compared to 2002 is normal. Many people’s names have been transferred,” he said.
At the all-party meeting Agarwal urged the leaders of recognised political parties in the state to appoint BLAs.
“It is the responsibility of the political parties. We can only appeal to them. We hope all political parties will cooperate. Let the situation unfold,” he added.
Before the house-to-house enumeration kicks off from November, BLOs will have to hold meetings with BLAs. BLOs will go through the draft electoral roll with the BLAs and identify the corrections that are to be made.
“If the name of even a single genuine voter is dropped from the electoral roll, there would be protests,” Firhad Hakim, TMC legislator and state minister, told media persons after the all-party meeting.
“The TMC has toned down. Earlier they were claiming not a single voter’s name should be dropped, now they are saying names of genuine voters’ names should not be dropped,” Shishir Bajoria, senior BJP leader, told media persons after the meeting.