West Bengal Misses Deadline Again As 22 Lakh Enumeration Forms Still Undistributed In Ongoing Special Revision Drive

Kolkata: The deadline for distribution of enumeration forms, which is the first stage of the three-stage special intensive revision (SIR) in West Bengal, has been missed again, with just 22 lakhs of enumeration forms yet to be distributed.

As per figures available from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, a total of around 7.45 crore enumeration forms have been distributed in the state up to 6 p.m. on Friday, which is around 97 per cent of the total of 7,66,37,529 electors in West Bengal as per the electoral roll as on October 27.

The initial deadline for completing the distribution of enumeration forms was November 11, but at that time, around 15 per cent of the electorate could not get them.

Thereafter, November 14 was set as the deadline for completing the distribution process of enumeration forms. Completing the distribution of enumeration forms will also mean the end of the first stage of the three-stage SIR process in West Bengal.

Sources in the CEO's office said that already, around 60 lakh voters in the state have been identified as "non-traceable", implying that the booth-level officers (BLOs) could not directly distribute the enumeration forms.

In such cases, notices were pasted on the main doors of the residences of such voters asking them to contact the BLOs concerned within a specified date. Those not contacting the BLOs by the specified dates have been marked as "non-traceable".

The first stage of the three-stage SIR in West Bengal started on November 4. The entire process is expected to be completed by March next year. The last time the SIR was conducted in West Bengal was in 2002.

Voters whose names or their parents' names were not in the 2002 voter list will have to submit any of the 11 documents specified by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to retain their names in the electoral rolls.

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