New Delhi: The overhaul of the electoral roll in West Bengal could start as soon as this month, state officials have been informed by the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, who represents the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the state.
Two state officials present in the virtual conference held by the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal have independently confirmed to The Reporters’ Collective that orders to undertake the Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal could come within this fortnight. Both preferred to remain anonymous because they are not authorised to speak on it.
“In the virtual conference, we were told to start preparing for it. Written orders should come soon,” one of them said.
ECI’s Special Intensive Revision is an unprecedented revision of electoral rolls, first ordered for Bihar on June 24. The revision requires verifying voters from scratch. In Bihar, the ECI has mandated different levels of scrutiny of documents for different classes of voters — a first in Indian electoral political history. It has ordered the exercise to be completed in a short period of three months. Alongside, it has emphasised that the citizenship of people should be verified through the process, and it has limited the documents people can produce to prove their citizenship and right to vote.
“We have not been told as yet whether, in West Bengal, like in Bihar, the ECI will mandate different kinds of documentary evidence from different sets of people. It would be a serious problem if they do,” said the second official The Collective spoke to.
“The likelihood is we will have a little more time than Bihar to complete the exercise because in October we have our main festivities,” he said.
West Bengal could face the same predicament as Bihar. The state recently completed a full special summary revision of its electoral roll and would now be forced by the Election Commission to junk the entire exercise and build the voter base from scratch, with months to go for the assembly elections.
The assembly elections in West Bengal are to be held before May 2026. “While we were not told the timeframe specifically, from the conversation, it seems we will also get a short timeframe for the entire overhaul. An intensive revision is, going by law, an exercise of registering the voters de novo,” he said….
https://www.reporters-collective.in/trc/next-voters-in-wb-to-face-ecis-electoral-roll-revision
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After the truth-shower 