West Bengal CEO assures no genuine voter's name will be dropped in SIR exercise

Kolkata, Oct 28 (PTI) West Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Tuesday said not a single genuine voter’s name would be struck off the list following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.

He was hopeful that the the list would be 100 per cent fair and transparent.

“I would like to assure you that not a single legitimate voter’s name would be excluded from the list. We are hopeful that it would be a 100 per cent fair voter list,” Agarwal told reporters.

He was talking to reporters following an all-party meeting at the CEO office here.

The Bengal CEO said currently there are 7,66,37,529 voters in the state.

“We didn’t have time in Bihar. We have got the time in Bengal. So, there’s no

opportunity to create any confusion. The increase in voters compared to 2002 is normal. Many people’s names have been transferred,” he said.

Elaborating on the process, Agarwal said from November 4, the survey will begin door-to-door in Bengal.

“Enumeration forms will be distributed door-to-door. The BLOs will go door-to-door to collect the information. All data will be available on the BLOs’ app. It will be compared with the voter list from 2002. Based on that, SIR will be issued. Each voter will have a separate QR code,” he said.

The CEO clearly stated that if one’s parent’s name is in the voter list from 2002, there is no cause for concern.

“However, if any person’s name is missing from the voter list following the revision of the electoral rolls, a notice will be sent and a hearing will be held,” he stated.

Agarwal also said in case of any confusion, there would be a help desk in each district to resolve issues. PTI SCH MNB