‘Unmapped’ voter hearing in Bengal conditionally obsrtucted by ECI.

Sagnik Bhaduri,West Bengal

(Source-PTI)

The Election Commission of India(ECI),in its recent move,has ordered the District Electoral Officers in West Bengal to not summon voters marked with ‘unmapped’ identities.Furthermore,the polling body mandated the summoning of voters with their names or ancestral traces in the 2002 list.

The EC had intervened amidst a wave of criticism levelled against itself by the State Government regarding the ongoing SIR excercise.

A letter,circulated on December 27,by the Additional Chief Electoral Officer,West Bengal ,addressed all the DEOs to not conduct the hearing of ‘unmapped’ voters despite notices having been generated by the State Government.The letter also mandated that such hearing notices must be dealt by the Addtional Electoral Registration Officer or the Electoral Registration Officer.

The hearings for the unmapped voters had begun in West Bengal on December 27 and almost 32 lakh voters have been declared as ‘unmapped’ post the first phase of hearing.

The ruling party of the State Trinamool Congress attacked the EC by alleging that the polling body’s actions purported to cripple the elderly,the ailing and persons with disabilites(PWDs) to attend the hearings at camp situated far from their residences.

“This is nothing short of torture.The EC sends polling personnel to the residences of elderly persons(during elections) due to mobility issues.Why could they not follow the the same procedure this time?” ,TMC MP Partha Bhowmik said at a Press Conference.