The Election Commission of India is considering seeking explanations from a section of the electoral registration officers (EROs) and the assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs), who had accepted unlisted identity-proof documents during the hearing session on claims and objections to the draft voters list in West Bengal, ignoring ECI’s specific instructions in the matter.
The ECI had specified 13 documents that could be accepted as supporting identity-proof documents. It had instructed the EROs and AEROs not to accept any other document other than the 13 listed ones.
The Commission had also instructed the District Magistrates (DMs) and the District Electoral Officers (DEOs) to ensure that the ECI’s guidelines in the matter are adhered to strictly.
However, sources pointed out that despite such specific instructions in the matter, several instances have surfaced where unlisted documents were accepted by the EROs and AEROs as supporting identity-proof documents.
“This, on one hand, is delaying the entire process of Special Intensive Revision since the voters submitting unlisted documents will have to be summoned again for a hearing and asked to come with any one of the 13 listed documents. At the same time, some vested interests seem to be using this opportunity to accuse the Commission of unnecessarily harassing the voters in the name of a hearing. In such a situation, the Commission is considering seeking explanations from those EROs and AEROs who accepted unlisted documents, ignoring the ECI’s specific guidelines in the matter,” a CEO’s office insider explained.
The deadline for submitting claims and objections to the draft voters’ list expired on Monday. The hearing sessions in the matter will continue till February 7. The final voters’ list will be published on February 14.
The Commission has already set a target of completing 7,00,000 hearings a day at 6,500 centres, to meet the deadlines for hearing and publication of the final voters’ list.
After the publication of the final voters’ list, the full bench of the ECI will visit West Bengal, and soon after that, the polling dates will be announced for the Assembly elections.
