Polling officials leave for their booths a day before voting, while those assigned to remote areas leave two days in advance.
The Supreme Court has said the final electoral roll should be frozen only two days before polling, after including names of voters cleared by tribunals by then.
District election officers (DEOs) and returning officers are now concerned about how they will deliver the list of freshly cleared voters to polling parties before they leave for their booths, or how much time it may take to send it to remote polling stations.
The number of polling booths in a district may be as high as 3,500, and getting the lists to even half of them will be challenging, said one DEO.
The Supreme Court has said that Bengal voters cleared by tribunals on or before April 21 can vote in the first phase on April 23, and those cleared by April 27 can vote in the second phase on April 29.
An electoral roll is usually frozen — meaning no names are added after that — on the last date of nomination filing.
The Supreme Court’s order has created an exception in this Assembly election.
Polling parties, comprising the presiding officer and polling officers, must have updated electoral rolls to ensure no genuine voter is turned away on election day.
“We are worried about how we will manage the logistics. Imagine the number of prints we have to take in such a short time. We do not know whether the updated list will be uploaded close to midnight, as was done when the supplementary lists were published. If so, then taking the prints may take the whole night,” said a DEO.
Any changes in the electoral rolls for booths must also be shared with all candidates as well as recognised political parties. Independent candidates can obtain copies of the electoral rolls against payment.
A senior official overseeing elections in a district said the challenge would be far greater in the hills or the Sundarbans, where “many booths are in the remotest corners”.
“There are some booths whose polling parties have to leave two days before voting, which means they have to leave on the same day the updated list will be published,” said the official.
The district administration will have to ensure that these lists reach such polling stations. “We are already short of human resources and vehicles, and sending the lists will further stretch our resources. But we will do it,” said another DEO.
“We have worked so hard for the past six months and we will do whatever it takes to ensure that no voter is turned away from a polling station,” the DEO added.
Polling officials are currently busy checking EVMs, conducting home visits and recording votes of ailing and elderly voters, as well as those in emergency services such as police and fire services, said an EC official.