Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata

Kolkata, Dec 23: West Bengal is all set to commence the first phase of hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls from December 27, officials said on Monday. The exercise aims to address around 32 lakh unmapped voters whose names could not be linked with family members in the 2002 electoral rolls.

An official from the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that notices have already begun to be sent to about 10 lakh voters from today, while the remaining 22 lakh will receive their notices starting Tuesday. During the enumeration phase, a total of 31,68,424 unmapped voters were identified across the state.

The hearings will take place at district magistrate offices, sub-divisional offices, government departments, schools, and colleges. Voters with logical discrepancies will be addressed in the next phase, for which guidelines are awaited from the Election Commission. Each hearing will be conducted under the supervision of a trained micro-observer.

Training for 4,000 micro-observers, all drawn from state officials, is scheduled in two phases on December 24 in Kolkata. However, Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised concerns that the micro-observers may lack adequate knowledge of the local Bengali language.

A delegation from the Election Commission, including Principal Secretary SB Joshi and Deputy Secretary Abhinav Agarwal, is scheduled to visit the state to review the progress of the SIR hearings. They will also attend the micro-observer training programme on December 24, officials said.

This first phase of SIR marks a significant step in ensuring a comprehensive and accurate electoral roll in West Bengal, aiming to strengthen the democratic process in the state.