The Election Commission on Sunday extended the period of enumeration for the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in nine states, including Bengal, and three Union Territories from December 4 to 11.

The commission’s move came after protests by Opposition parties and booth-level officers — government employees tasked with enumerating voters afresh — over the deaths of at least 40 BLOs, including several suicides.

A poll panel source, however, said the extension had been granted “for sharing the list of absent, shifted, dead and duplicate electors with booth-level agents (BLAs) of political parties before the draft rolls are published, so as to ensure full transparency”.

The BLOs and the BLAs are, however, already sharing these lists.

With the last date for the enumeration phase now extended to December 11, the draft list will be published on December 16, after which claims and objections can be filed until January 15.

The issuance of notices, hearing of voters and the verification of enumeration forms will take place concurrently from December 16 to February 7, with the final list published on February 14.

Government employees’ unions and the Opposition have described the month-long enumeration phase as unplanned and rushed.

They have underlined that most of the voters need the BLOs to help them find their names on the previous intensively revised rolls from two decades ago.

BLOs have been complaining that meeting the daily targets of digitising the filled-out forms is presenting a stiff challenge because of technical glitches relating to the poll panel’s software and connectivity issues.

Protests at the Bengal CEO’s office last week has prompted the commission to order the office relocated to a purportedly more secure location.

The ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal has been on a collision course with the poll panel, which it blames for the deaths of BLOs and voters fearful of losing their citizenship because they lack the documents sought by the SIR.

The poll panel has questioned the Bengal government’s failure to increase the honorarium for BLOs as ordered, and its obstruction of attempts to set up polling stations at private housing complexes.

As of Sunday, 84.3 per cent of the enumeration forms of the almost 51 crore registered voters targeted in this round of the SIR had been digitised.