The final electoral rolls for Bengal will be announced on February 28, the Election Commission said on Tuesday.

The earlier deadline for publication of the final electoral rolls was February 14.

In a letter to the state’s chief electoral officer, Manoj Agarwal, the commission said that the revision in the dates was being carried out to comply with the Supreme Court’s direction.

The schedule provided by the commission states that the hearing of notices will be held till February 14 and the scrutiny of documents will be completed by February 21.

On Monday, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had directed the Election Commission to grant a week’s time to complete the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

“Since new set of government officials have been inducted, the process of scrutinising documents submitted by affected persons is likely to take more time and as suggested on behalf of some of the petitioners, we direct that one week more time shall be granted beyond February 14 to the Electoral Registration Officer to complete scrutiny and take a decision,” the CJI said in his order.

The state and the Election Commission have been locked in legal battle over the SIR process.

The EC’s counsel had complained in the Supreme Court that the state did not provide adequate staff to complete the SIR process which has been marred with controversies, allegations and counter-allegations in Bengal.