Kolkata, 22 April (H.S.) : A day before the first phase of the crucial two-phase West Bengal Assembly elections, only 136 names out of around 27 lakh pending cases were cleared in the first supplementary voters’ list published by the Election Commission of India (ECI) following decisions of the Appellate Tribunals.

At the same time, two names that had earlier been cleared by judicial officers during the initial adjudication process were rejected by the Appellate Tribunals in the supplementary list.

After the publication of the final electoral roll in West Bengal on February 28, more than 60 lakh names were referred for judicial adjudication under directions of the Supreme Court. The verification exercise was carried out by 732 judicial officers, including 100 each from neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha.

Following the adjudication process, around 27 lakh of the 60 lakh referred names were found excludable. As per subsequent Supreme Court directions, these 27 lakh cases were then referred to the Appellate Tribunals for further review.

The apex court had also ordered that voters whose names are cleared by the Appellate Tribunals even a day before polling would be allowed to cast their votes. Accordingly, the 136 voters cleared in the latest supplementary list will be eligible to vote in the first phase on Thursday.

Similarly, for the second phase of polling on April 29, names approved by the Appellate Tribunals up to April 28 will be eligible to vote.

The first phase of polling on Thursday will cover 152 Assembly constituencies spread across 16 districts. The second phase, scheduled for April 29, will cover the remaining 142 constituencies. Counting of votes will take place on May 4.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh