The West Bengal Congress on Wednesday urged the Election Commission of India (EC) to complete the adjudication process for voters in the State before announcing any election schedule, warning that a large number of electors could otherwise be left out of the rolls.
In a memorandum submitted to the EC, the party sought completion of the adjudication process for more than 60 lakh electors in West Bengal before the commencement of the election process. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of West Bengal, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, State Congress president Subhankar Sarkar, MP Isha Khan Choudhury, AICC secretary B.P. Singh, and Prasenjit Bose said the electoral rolls published on February 28, pursuant to an order of the Supreme Court of India, contain 7,04,59,284 electors.
‘Logical discrepancy’
Of these, 60,06,675 voters, about 8.5%, have been marked as “under adjudication”. The leaders said these electors fall under the categories of “logical discrepancy” and “unmapped”, with a majority located in Assembly constituencies in Murshidabad, Malda, North 24 Parganas, and South 24 Parganas.
Referring to the Supreme Court order of February 24, the leaders noted that supplementary lists were to be published on a continuous basis as and when the pending exercise was completed. Given the scale of the exercise, the adjudication process could take several weeks, they said.
