West Bengal SIR Row: Election Commission's special observer says hearing objections is more complex and challenging than conducting a census.

The hearing phase of the voter list revision in West Bengal is at a challenging juncture. Subrata Gupta, the special observer appointed by the Election Commission in the state, told news agency PTI that the difficulties in the hearings will be even greater than those encountered during the enumeration process that has been completed so far. He said that 7.66 crore enumeration forms were distributed based on the 2025 voter list in the state. Of these, 58 lakh forms have not yet been collected because the voters were either not at their addresses, had permanently moved, had died, or were duplicate entries.

In addition, approximately 1.34 crore forms were found to have logical inconsistencies. These included errors in the names of fathers and mothers, and unusual age differences between the voter and their parents or grandparents. Furthermore, approximately 30 lakh forms did not map to the 2002 list, and 85 lakh forms had name discrepancies. Subrata Gupta said that hearings will have to be conducted in all these cases so that the final list is published correctly and accurately. He estimated that approximately 2 crore voters could be involved in these hearings.

Subrata Gupta praised the work of the BLOs

Subrata Gupta said that the enumeration phase was successfully completed and the work of the BLOs (Booth Level Officers) was excellent. He said that most of the changes in the voter list will be positive and will bring greater satisfaction to the voters. He said that despite political pressures, this entire process is being undertaken to create a citizen-centric and error-free voter list.

How difficult is the task for the Election Commission?

Currently, there are only 3,300 EROs/AEROs in the state. If the hearings are to be completed in 45 days, each officer would have to conduct approximately 140 hearings every day. Even if each hearing takes only 10 minutes, the daily schedule would be approximately 23.5 hours, which is impossible. Therefore, a request has been made to the Commission to appoint 2,500-3,000 more officers. Even with these measures, each officer will still have to conduct 50-100 hearings a day, which is a challenging task.

Regarding this, Gupta said that quality training and the officer's competence will be crucial during the hearings. Since the hearing process is judicial in nature, depriving anyone of their voting rights cannot be arbitrary or biased. Meanwhile, there were technical difficulties in digitising the old 2002 list. Printing and distributing hearing notices and scheduling alternative dates for absent voters also present a major challenge.