West Bengal election authorities have begun a statewide voter re-enrolment drive to identify eligible electors whose names were deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and help them apply for inclusion again, following a directive from the Election Commission.
District Election Officers will coordinate the exercise, while booth-level officers will conduct door-to-door visits, verify the status of affected electors and assist eligible applicants with Form 6, the application used to seek inclusion in the electoral roll, officials said.
The state Chief Electoral Officer’s office said special enrolment camps were also being organised across Bengal to reach eligible voters left out during the revision process, as well as first-time voters. The initiative is intended to run alongside the regular enrolment process, with district authorities responsible for monitoring applications and ensuring that they are handled under electoral rules.
“Special camps are being held throughout the state to ensure this. If any person has any complaint, please feel free to contact the BLO, AERO, ERO or DEO concerned. We are committed to ensure that no eligible voter is excluded from the voters list,” said a statement signed by Arindam Niyogi, the state’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer.
The Election Commission has asked district election authorities to identify electors whose names appeared in the pre-SIR voter list but were missing from the current rolls. The list of electors categorised as absent, shifted, dead or deleted, known as the ASDD list, has been made available on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer and through the websites of district election officers.
Eligible people who find that their names are missing can submit Form 6 online or approach their respective booth-level officers for assistance. Election officials have also been directed to coordinate with representatives of recognised political parties during the verification exercise and to facilitate the identification of eligible electors who may have been left out.
The campaign follows a large-scale exclusion and adjudication process during the SIR exercise. The draft revision had classified more than 58 lakh electors as absent, shifted, dead or deleted. More than 60 lakh names were subsequently referred for adjudication, and around 27 lakh electors were deleted after the adjudication process, according to reports cited in the source material.
The appellate tribunals received more than 22 lakh appeals seeking reinstatement. The latest re-enrolment process does not, however, cover every disputed case. The Chief Electoral Officer’s office has clarified that cases rejected by judicial officers, as well as appeals pending before appellate tribunals, cannot be decided by executive election authorities through this campaign. Those matters will have to proceed through the applicable judicial mechanism.
For the election administration, the exercise creates a parallel task of public outreach and record verification while the regular electoral-roll process continues. For residents, the immediate point of contact is the booth-level officer, followed by the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, Electoral Registration Officer or District Election Officer concerned. The state authorities have not specified in the statement a single deadline for all applications, indicating that the process will operate within the regular enrolment framework and the special camps being organised by districts.
