Kolkata: The West Bengal CEO’s office has verbally requested EC, seeking clarification on whether voters whose appeals are pending before tribunals for inclusion can file Form 6 for enrolment, following queries from BLOs on the issue. Following EC’s instruction, special drives have been undertaken by the district election officers (DEOs) and electoral registration officers (EROs) for the enrolment of left-out and young/first-time eligible electors under the process of continuous update.SIR has already been completed in 20 states/UTs, including Bihar and Bengal. However, things are different in Bengal compared to other states/UTs.“West Bengal is the only state where 19 tribunals have been set up where 38.3 lakh appeals have been filed both for inclusion and exclusion. Out of 38.3 lakh appeals, 22.2 lakh were filed for inclusion. The West Bengal CEO’s office has verbally requested EC, seeking clarity on whether the persons whose appeals for inclusion are pending before tribunal can apply through Form 6,” a senior state govt official said.The state’s final voters’ list, which was published on Feb 28, had 7,04,59,284 electors, which included 60,06,675 voters marked as “Under Adjudication” and referred to the judicial officers. Out of 60 lakh names, judicial officers approved 33 lakh and rejected 27 lakh, which were subsequently deleted from the electoral roll.On March 10, Supreme Court directed the creation of tribunals in West Bengal to file appeals against the orders passed by the judicial officers. The apex court also made it clear that the orders passed by the judicial officers will not be subjected to appeal before any executive/administrative officer.On Monday, BLOs met EROs and flagged their concerns about the electors whose appeals are pending in tribunals, or Form 6 inclusion that was earlier said to be meant for new voters only, and whether any document needs to be submitted.The BLOs stated that they did not get answers to their queries at a training session with EROs on Monday.Meanwhile, issuing a press note, West Bengal CEO’s office said, “Any person not yet enrolled in the electoral roll or whose name has got deleted can apply for enrolment at any point of time. No eligible voter is to be left out. The objective of the special drive is to identify and facilitate such electors.”
