The first supplementary list of voters resolved through adjudication could be published next week with the state administration and Calcutta High Court coming to the conclusion that next week would be better keeping in mind the possibility of law-and-order issues arising in some areas following the deletion of a certain percentage of names.

The decision, sources said, was taken during a meeting on Thursday between the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Sujoy Paul, and the newly appointed state home secretary Sanghamitra Ghosh, DGP Siddh Nath Gupta and Kolkata police commissioner Ajay Kumar Nand.

Sources said the meeting lasted for half an hour. The major issue discussed therein was the possible law-and-order situation after the publication of the lists of voters cleared by by judicial officers during adjudication.

"It was initially decided that the first supplementary list of voters would be published on Friday. But at Thursday's meeting, the possibility of law-and-order issues, assuming that names of some voters would be deleted following adjudication, was discussed. Then the decision was taken to postpone the publication of the list next week, particularly because there is a festival of one community on Saturday," said a source aware of the development.

Sources also said that so far, adjudication of about 25 lakh voters with discrepancies in their enumeration forms has been completed.

"But the first list would be published with 20 lakh voters whose adjudication was completed a few days ago," said a source.

Although the sources in the EC said that they had no idea how many voters were being rejected by the judicial officers, sources in the districts claimed that roughly 40 per cent of the voters under the logical discrepancies category had been rejected.

"The fact that the state administration and the high court apprehended law-and-order issues hints that a significant number of voters could be deleted after adjudication," said a source.

On February 28, the EC published the preliminary final roll with 6.44 crore voters, along with 60.06 lakh voters under adjudication.

As of now, 705 judicial officers are carrying out the adjudication process.

"Right now, 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh cases are being disposed of by the judicial officers every day. We expect that the adjudication of all voters would be completed before the elections," said a poll panel official.

Names of the voters can be included in the rolls till the last date of nominations of candidates. In Bengal, the elections will be held in two phases — April 23 and 29. The last dates of nominations for these two phases are April 6 and April 9, respectively. So, names of all eligible voters have to be included in the rolls and the supplementary lists published before the last dates of nominations.

Off to Tamil Nadu

The EC has posted five district magistrates, who had been transferred by the Election Commission or the state government just before the elections, as general observers to poll-bound Tamil Nadu so that they do not get the opportunity to influence or interfere in the election process in Bengal.

"The DMs are Arvind Mina of South 24-Parganas, Rani A. Ayesha of East Burdwan, Siyad N. of Bankura and Preeti Goyal of Malda, all removed by the EC on Wednesday, and Shama Parveen of Jalpaiguri who had been transferred by the state government just before election dates were declared. All five were sent to Tamil Nadu as general observers.

Before the EC's directive, these officials had been posted in various departments as special secretaries by the state government.

"The EC felt that these officers could interfere in the election process in the districts concerned, particularly after the ruling dispensation announced that they would be sent to their previous postings after the elections. This is the reason why they were sent to Tamil Nadu as general observers," said a source in the poll panel.

This apart, the panel appointed state panchayat secretary P. Ulganathan as a general observer to Tamil Nadu. Ulganathan was earlier appointed as a general observer but waitlisted. "The poll panel believed he could interfere in the poll process if not sent outside the state," said a source.