Bengal Assembly Polls Announced Amid Uncertainty Over 42 Lakh Voters

(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, March 15 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday announced a two-phase polling schedule for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections -- April 23 and April 29 -- even as the fate of over 42 lakh voters referred for judicial adjudication after being classified under the "logical discrepancy" category remains uncertain.

According to figures from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, the total number of electors in the state was 7,66,37,529 before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls was announced in November last year.

However, when the final voters' list -- excluding those referred for judicial adjudication - was published on February 28, the number of electors came down to 6,44,52,609.

Of these, around 3.28 crore are male voters, around 3.16 crore are female voters, and a little over 1,000 fall under the 'others' category.

Earlier, a little over 60 lakh voters had been referred for judicial adjudication. Of them, the adjudication process had been completed for slightly less than 18 lakh voters till Saturday night, which means the fate of over 42 lakh voters remains uncertain.

A total of 732 judicial officers, including 100 each from neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand, are currently working round the clock to complete the adjudication process.

When asked about the status of voters whose adjudication process has not yet been completed, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said the judicial officers are conducting the process expeditiously as per the directions of the Supreme Court.

“Supplementary lists are published, and the names approved by the judicial adjudicators will be included in those supplementary lists,” Kumar said, adding that the first supplementary list is likely to be published this week.

The Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, Sujoy Paul, is personally monitoring the progress of the judicial adjudication process on a daily basis.

Sources in the CEO's office said that in some districts such as Bankura and Purulia, the process of clearing the names under consideration has already been completed, and the final voter list for these districts can be prepared.

However, significant work still remains in districts such as Murshidabad, South 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur and Malda, where the number of names under consideration is comparatively higher.

Commenting on clashes between supporters of the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday afternoon that coincided with the Prime Minister's visit to the state, the CEC said that since the Model Code of Conduct has come into force with the announcement of polling dates, the Commission will take strict action in such incidents.

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