Calcutta: A complete lack of clarity on the part of the Election Commission left a majority of the under-adjudication voters in the dark throughout Tuesday as they struggled to find out whether their names were approved for inclusion in the first supplementary roll published at 11.55pm on Monday.
“The list was published online, and no hard copies were displayed in the BDO, SDO or DM offices till late this evening. This left lakhs of people in trouble as the majority of the people living in the remote and rural areas, who are not tech savvy, struggle to find their names on the rolls,” said a state government official.
Moreover, Nabanna sources said, the situation took a critical turn when no comprehensive list of included and deleted names was given to booth-level officers (BLOs) or political parties.
“If the BLOs or the political parties were given the list, it could have helped the voters get rid of their anxiety. It is still not clear why the EC did not publish a complete list and hand it over to district magistrates,” said another official.
Sources in the office of the Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) said they didn't know how many voters were enrolled after the adjudication, as the list had been uploaded by Nirvachan Sadan in Delhi.
“The comprehensive list was sent to the CEO's office, like the preliminary final rolls that were published on February 28. Before the final rolls were published on February 28, a comprehensive list had been sent to the CEO's office, based on which the CEO, Manoj Agarwal, held a press conference and cleared all confusion related to the final rolls,” said a source in the CEO's office.
But this time, there was no formal press conference before the publication of the supplementary rolls, as a complete list was not handed over to political parties at the district level.
The voters, who are not that tech savvy, would face a problem for two reasons. First, they would find it difficult to see whether his or her name had been approved by the judicial officers. Second, if they don't get to know in case their names were deleted after adjudication, they would not be able to appeal before the tribunal against the decision.
“The omitted voters can appeal before the tribunal through the online platform of the poll panel, ECI NET. They can also submit their applications to the SDO and DM offices, where they would be digitised and uploaded on the ECI NET. The process is not that complicated, but to apply to the tribunal, the voters should know whether their names have been deleted. A comprehensive list should have been pasted in the BDO, SDO and DM offices,” said a source.
Another official said that as there was no comprehensive list, it was still not clear how many under-adjudicated cases were cleared for publication on the supplementary list.
“It was said that 29 lakh of 60.06 lakh under-adjudication cases were disposed of, and the list published on Monday night included all disposed of cases. But until a comprehensive list is published, people will not be able to get to know whether their names were adjudicated till now,” said a source.