Kolkata, 18 March (H.S.): The Election Commission is likely to publish a supplementary electoral roll later this week that will clarify the status of nearly two million voters whose verification process has already been completed, official sources said.

According to sources, the additional list will specify which voters will remain on the electoral rolls and whose names may be deleted. The exercise is part of a large-scale verification drive in which more than 6.006 million voters have been placed under the “under consideration” category following discrepancies detected during the intensive revision process.

Judicial officers appointed under the supervision of the Calcutta High Court are currently examining the documents submitted by these voters. Their eligibility will be determined on the basis of this verification process.

Sources said that as of Tuesday, scrutiny and disposal of records of more than 2.1 million voters had been completed. The first supplementary list is expected to reflect the status of around two million of these voters.

A high-level meeting in this regard was also held at the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday. Those present included Chief Justice Sujoy Paul, Chief Secretary Dushmanta Nariala, Home Secretary Sanghamitra Ghosh, Director General of Police Siddhanath Gupta, Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal and Special Observer Subrata Gupta, sources said.

The supplementary list is expected to be released either on Friday or Saturday.

Voters whose names do not appear in the supplementary list will have the option to appeal before special tribunals functioning under the judicial system. Preparations are underway to constitute these tribunals in accordance with directions of the Supreme Court, and their structure is likely to be finalised within the next two to three days.

The verification exercise is being conducted following Supreme Court directives after anomalies were detected during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Judicial officers from West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha have been engaged in the process.

At present, a total of 705 judicial officers are involved in the disposal of cases related to the voters under scrutiny.

Sources further indicated that more supplementary voter lists may be issued as the verification process continues ahead of the elections. The scrutiny of the remaining voters is expected to take a few more days.

According to the Election Commission, all eligible voters whose names appear in the final electoral roll before the last date of nominations will be able to exercise their franchise.

The West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The last date for filing nominations for the first phase is April 6, while for the second phase it is April 9. Eligible voters included in the final rolls by these deadlines will be able to vote in the respective phases.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh