Congress leaders from Bengal held a press conference here on Thursday to push for their demand that polls be held in the state only after more than 62 lakh voters, who were "under adjudication" on the preliminary "final" electoral roll, were heard by judicial officers.

The presser came after the Congress leaders were unable to get an appointment with the Election Commission.

"Despite emailing the EC on March 2, no appointment was given. We had to submit the memorandum at the gate. No officer met us," West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) general secretary (organisation) Ashutosh Chatterjee told The Telegraph.

Protests by all main parties, except the BJP, are in progress across Bengal after the EC introduced a peculiarity specific to the state — the "under adjudication" category — in the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list. Similar to Assam's "doubtful voters", those "ünder adjudication" will be unable to vote unless cleared by judicial officers investigating the "logical discrepancies" in their voter registration.

In the memorandum, the Congress mainly made three demands.

A deadline for the completion of the adjudication process should be notified by the EC in consultation with the higher judiciary.

The EC should ensure that the election process commences only after the completion of the adjudication process to preserve the efficacy of the statutory appellate mechanism.

Clear guidelines for the appeal and re-enrollment process for "eligible electors erroneously excluded from the Final Electoral Roll should be notified" by the EC.

"If not, let them hold elections with the electoral rolls of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," WBPCC president Subhankar Sarkar said.

All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Bengal, Ghulam Ahmad Mir, said: The indication of President's rule exists because of the non-cooperation between the stakeholders: the state government, the EC, and the Centre.... They also know that before the clearance of each genuine voter, they can't go ahead with the elections."

The Congress also demanded answers on an anomaly.

"While 9.64 lakh Form 6/6A applications were received by the end of the claims and objections period in West Bengal, only 1.82 lakh applications were admitted and names added....While only 99 thousand odd Form 7 applications were received till the end of the claims and objections period, over 5.46 lakh Form 7 applications were finally admitted and names deleted accordingly..." read the memorandum.

Adhir to move SC

Congress leader and former Berhampore MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday demanded that the electoral roll be thoroughly rectified before polls were conducted.

“The fate of 60 lakh voters hangs in the balance. I have started preparing to move the Supreme Court on this issue,” he said.

Left dharna over

The demonstration by Left parties in front of the chief electoral officer (CEO)'s office in Calcutta, demanding that no polls be held till all genuine voters found their names on the electoral roll, ended on Thursday.

The dharna was lifted after a delegation led by CPM veteran Biman Bose met the CEO, Manoj Agarwal. The Left leaders told the CEO that polls could not be held by excluding eligible voters.

Several members of the civil society, including Everester Piyali Basak and actor Chandan Sen took part in the demonstration.

Additional reporting by our Calcutta bureau