Kolkata, Dec 29 (PTI) West Bengal CEO office on Monday issued instructions to district election authorities on handling cases of voters shown as "unmapped" in the booth-level officer (BLO) app due to data
conversion errors linked to the 2002 electoral rolls, while reiterating safeguards for elderly and vulnerable voters.
The move was welcomed by Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who said the party had raised the issue before the poll authorities.
In a communication by the additional chief electoral officer (CEO) to all district election officers and district magistrates, it was stated that electors aged 85 years and above, as well as those who are sick or persons with disabilities, may not be called for personal hearings if a specific request is made by them or on their behalf.
Even where hearing notices have been generated, such electors may be contacted over phone and advised not to attend, with verification to be carried out at their residences.
The order explained that the issue of "unmapped" electors arose due to sporadic errors during the conversion of PDF data of the 2002 electoral rolls, the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, into CSV format.
As a result, linkage details of some electors could not be fetched in the BLO app despite their self or progeny linkage being available in authenticated hard copies of the 2002 rolls.
Districts that have not yet forwarded authenticated lists of such electors have been instructed to send them to the CEO's office for endorsement, following which the lists will be uploaded on the CEO West Bengal website.
Only after such uploading can provisions exempting personal hearings at designated venues be applied, it said.
The CEO's office also said a request has been made to the Election Commission to allow uploading of relevant portions of the 2002 Electoral Roll PDF by Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs).
Pending system-level corrections, district authorities have been advised not to call such electors for hearings, not to serve hearing notices already generated, and to keep such notices with the EROs or AEROs.
Extracts of the 2002 electoral rolls are to be sent to the District Election Officers concerned for verification as per EC guidelines, after which EROs or AEROs may upload the required documents to dispose of the cases.
BLOs may also carry out field verification by visiting the electors, taking photographs with them, and uploading the same along with extracts of the hard copy of the electoral rolls.
The order clarified that if discrepancies are detected later in the hard copy of the 2002 electoral rolls, or if complaints are received, the electors concerned may be called for a hearing after due service of notices.
Welcoming the move, Abhishek Banerjee in a post on X said the Trinamool Congress had consistently worked to address public concerns in a constructive manner and that the party's delegation had raised the issue before the CEO earlier in the day. He said steps were subsequently taken to provide relief.
Banerjee also appealed to the EC to consider cases of senior citizens on compassionate grounds, particularly those above 60 years of age living with medical conditions or comorbidities, and urged that they be spared from being called for hearings to avoid undue hardship, stressing that humanity should remain the guiding principle.
The instructions have been issued for immediate compliance by all concerned election officials. PTI SCH MNB
