Governor Ananda Bose to enrol as Bengal voter as state braces for SIR phase 2

With the enumeration phase in West Bengal concluding on Thursday (December 11), the Election Commission (EC) is preparing to step up its scrutiny during the second phase of the electoral roll revision.

The move comes as the number of uncollectable forms reportedly fell short of the panel’s expectations.

In a related development, the state governor, C V Ananda Bose, in a surprise move, has sought to transfer his EPIC (Electoral Photo Identity Card) from his home state of Kerala to West Bengal to enrol as a voter in the state where he is serving.

According to Lok Bhavan (formerly Raj Bhavan), the governor conveyed this decision during a meeting with officials from the EC, including the booth-level officer (BLO).

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The official in a social media statement quoted the governor as saying that he has always felt an “emotional attachment with West Bengal and its people,” describing his connection with the state’s psyche, art, culture, heritage, literature, and history as “umbilical”.

“(Honourable) Governor has always expressed that he considers himself blessed to breathe the same air that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose breathed, and to walk the same land where Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore walked. He considers it a privilege to be a voter of the land that heralded the Indian Renaissance,” the statement added.

Soon after assuming office, the governor had expressed a desire to learn Bengali. In line with this, an initiation ceremony was held in January 2023, on the day of Saraswati Puja, at the East Lawn of the former Raj Bhavan, marking his first formal lesson in the language.

The governor’s move to enrol as a voter in Bengal could assume political significance as it comes amid the ruling Trinamool Congress’s heightened campaign portraying the central government as “Bangla Birodhi” (Anti-Bengal).

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“Bengal has endured neglect, deprivation, and deliberate injustice. Yet our people remain unshaken. Workers, farmers, and the poorest of the poor have been denied their rightful dues through cold political vindictiveness,” the TMC said in a social media post, as its MPs continue protests in the parliament over the Centre’s alleged victimisation of the state.

It may be mentioned here that Bose on Sunday (December 7) attended a massive Bhagavad Gita recital event held at Kolkata's iconic Brigade Parade Ground, which also saw the presence of several state leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Meanwhile, the state is gearing up for the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise as its timeline has not been extended further by the EC.

It expanded the timeline for six states and Union Territories out of the 12 where the process is underway. The additional time has been granted to Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

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For the second phase of scrutiny in the state, the EC is introducing additional layers of verification, including centralising all hearings at district magistrates’ (DM) offices and adding a new feature to the BLO App to help identify possible duplicate voters.

These steps indicate that the commission is not fully satisfied with the effectiveness of the existing screening exercise and wants a tighter review before publishing the final rolls.

According to EC data, the number of uncollected forms across the state has crossed 57 lakh. Among these, more than 24 lakh entries belong to deceased voters. Over 11 lakh names have been classified as missing voters, and more than 19 lakh voters have relocated from their registered addresses.

The commission has also detected many suspected duplicate entries, which will undergo further scrutiny.

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The draft voter list is scheduled for publication on December 16. Before that date, the BLOs have been instructed to display at every booth the list of names that have been removed, along with the reasons for their removal.

These lists are being prepared after consultation with BLAs (booth level agents) representing political parties, and will be displayed across 80,681 booths in the state. This advance disclosure will allow the voters to check their status even before the draft rolls come out.

Once the draft list is released, a month-long period of objections and corrections will begin and will continue until January 15.

The EC has clarified that any voter whose name has been excluded or flagged for discrepancy will be required to appear for a hearing.

However, unlike in the past, the commission has decided that all hearings will be held only at the DM offices.

“Hearings will not be conducted at panchayat or block offices. This centralisation is aimed at ensuring better scrutiny,” said sources at the office of Bengal’s chief electoral officer.

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Hearing exclusively at the DM offices mean that a large section of the electorate, especially those living far from district headquarters, will have to travel long distances to respond to notices.

The hearings will begin on the day the draft rolls are published and will continue until February 7. Notices will be issued from December 16 onwards.

Voters who are unable to attend on the scheduled date will be given time until the final day of hearings. Those summoned will have to produce one of 11 approved identity documents to establish their credentials.

Sources further stated that the entire hearing process will be webcast from all DM offices. Cameras will be installed to monitor the proceedings, and the footage will be preserved for official records.

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Preparations for this system have begun in district election offices across the state.

A significant part of the second phase scrutiny will also involve the verification of unmapped voters. These are voters whose names or the names of their “relatives” do not appear in the voter list of 2002.

Apart from unmapped applicants, voters flagged for suspicious age gaps between parents and children and those whose records appear inconsistent despite being mapped with the 2002 list, may also be summoned.

Officials say that these checks are aimed at ensuring that the final rolls are both accurate and complete.

New digital filter

Adding to the verification workload is the commission’s latest decision to introduce a new digital filter in the BLO App at the last minute.

A new option named Duplicate Elector Verification has been added to the bottom of the interface. When opened, the feature displays a list of voters who may have duplicate entries either within the same constituency or elsewhere in the state.

The list is generated through software algorithms that identify identical combinations of the voter’s name and the name of a relative, such as father’s name. If the same pairing is found in another location, the system flags both entries as potentially belonging to the same person.

Also read: SIR in TN: More than 5.89 million voter names struck off so far

The EC has emphasised that the list produced by the app is preliminary and not conclusive. The BLOs are required to verify each flagged case on the ground and report their findings.

They have also been instructed to prioritise this task.

Separately, the state had earlier proposed creating 14,000 new booths. However, the EC has not approved the proposal.

The commission has expressed dissatisfaction with the survey reports submitted by district authorities for high-rise housing complexes and slum clusters.

Fresh surveys have been ordered, and the DMs must identify locations that have 250 households or 500 voters. These surveys have to be completed by December 31.

Only after that will the commission decide whether to approve new booths. Any approved changes will be reflected in the final voter list.

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The final rolls will be published after February 7, once the hearing process and field-level verification are completed.

For now, the commission is focused on conducting the second phase of scrutiny under tighter supervision and with expanded technological tools, said the officials.