The hearing of unmapped voters — who could not link themselves to the 2002 electoral rolls through self-mapping or progeny mapping — and the verification of their documents will begin on December 27 as the Election Commission started sending notices to them.

“Initially, 32 lakh unmapped voters would be called for the hearing and verification of documents. Later on, more notices would be generated for the voters who have discrepancies in their enumeration forms. But the figure is yet to be ascertained by the poll panel,” said a senior EC official.

According to sources, there will be 3,234 hearing centres, where voters would be asked to be present to explain why their or their parents’ names were not in the 2002
post-SIR rolls.

In each of the 294 Assembly segments in the state, there are 10 assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) and one electoral registration officer (ERO). All these 11 officers in the Assembly segment will conduct the hearing.

The sources said that since a huge number of people could be called in for the hearing, the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO)in Calcutta has requested the EC to allow the AEROs to dispose of cases after the hearing. A permission to this effect was expected to come before the commencement of the hearing.

The hearing and verification phase assumed significance in Bengal, as 58 lakh names have already been deleted from the existing rolls, which included 7.66
crore voters.

“The number of names which will be deleted from the final electoral rolls, which will be published on February 14, depends on the hearing and the verification exercise. So, the EC is very cautious about the hearing and verification phase to prepare error-free electoral rolls,” said a source.

Sources aware of the development said that the unmapped voters would have to explain where they or their families were during the SIR of 2002.

“Whatever their explanation will be, they will have to submit any of the approved documents to the AEROs or the EROs. The entire process will be monitored by the electoral roll micro-observers, who would be central government employees in the Group B or above category,” said
an official.

Not only the unmapped voters, but many of the voters whose enumeration forms were found to have several discrepancies could also be called for a hearing.

Initially, 1.67 crore voters were flagged with discrepancies. But the EC has brought down the figure to 1.36 crore by overlooking minor spelling mistakes in the names of the parents or grandparents of
the voters.

“The EC is working to cut down the list to a reasonable one by allowing minor mistakes in the forms. Some names will also be cleared through the verification by the BLOs. Those whose names could not be cleared during the verification process will be called after the hearing of 32 lakh unmapped voters concluded,” said a source.

Sources said that inside the hearing centre, the AERO or the ERO would be accompanied by the micro-observer and the booth-level officer of the booth concerned.

“No other person would be allowed inside the hearing centre as the EC is concerned about the political pressure on the officials who will conduct the hearing. This is why senior central government employees have been engaged as micro-observers,” said
an official.