Kolkata, 14 March (H.S.): In West Bengal, around 34 per cent of the voter records examined so far under the “logical discrepancy” category during the judicial adjudication process have been found fit for exclusion from the electoral roll.

According to a source in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), about 25 per cent of the total cases referred for judicial adjudication had been disposed of till Friday night.

The source said that more than 6 million cases were identified under the “logical discrepancy” category and referred for judicial scrutiny. Of these, the adjudication process has been completed for nearly 1.5 million cases, which accounts for about 25 per cent of the total. Out of these disposed cases, over 500,000 have been found eligible for exclusion, which is roughly 34 per cent of the adjudicated cases.

With this, the total number of excluded voters reached 6.3 million as of Friday night. Earlier, around 5.9 million names under the categories of “deceased”, “shifted”, “duplicate”, and “missing” had already been removed from the draft electoral roll published in December last year.

Voters whose names are proposed to be excluded will have the opportunity to approach the Appellate Tribunal in accordance with the latest directions of the Supreme Court.

The source also said that a total of 732 judicial officers are currently engaged in the process to expedite the adjudication, including 100 officers each from neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha. The process is progressing at a satisfactory pace, and the first supplementary list in this regard is likely to be published next week.

Last week, a full Bench of the Election Commission of India, led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, visited Kolkata. Interacting with the media, he expressed confidence that the adjudication process would be completed before the crucial Assembly elections in the state later this year, ensuring that all eligible voters are able to exercise their franchise.

The final electoral roll for West Bengal, excluding the 6 million cases referred for judicial adjudication, was published on February 28. As per Supreme Court directives, supplementary lists will be released in phases based on the progress of the judicial process.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh