The Election Commission of India has taken major steps across the state to ensure that no eligible citizen of West Bengal is left out of the voter list. Voters who have been left out of the Comprehensive Voter List (SIR) have the opportunity to get their names re-enrolled. And the Election Commission has announced a completely new project to get their names back. The Commission has recently issued a guideline stating that if there is any discrepancy or complaint about the draft voter list, the common man can directly submit his application or complaint to the four-tier election officers. The district election officers of all (24) districts of the state have been instructed to be especially active in this regard. The guideline clearly states that the BLOs will now go door to door to get the names of those whose names have been left out of the SIR list. They will arrange to get their names filled in Form-6. Also, camps will be set up in every neighborhood. Applications can also be made there to get their names back.
The Commission has published a list of designated officers for the speedy disposal of any complaint regarding correction, addition or omission of a name in the voter list. The first point of contact at the booth level is the Booth Level Officer. Applications can also be made to the Co-Electoral Registration Officers. Written complaints can be submitted directly to the Electoral Registration Officers based on the assembly constituency. Complaints regarding voter list issues can also be made to the office of the highest electoral officer of the district, i.e. the District Magistrate.
Apart from offline, citizens can also submit Form-6 (New Enrolment) or Form-8 (Correction or Transfer) and file complaints online from home using the official National Voter Service Portal of the Election Commission of India. It is also possible to call the national level helpline number 1950 to report any election-related information or complaint.
It is worth noting that the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, conducted before the recent assembly elections in West Bengal, led to unprecedented changes in the voter list across the state. According to the Commission's statistics, the names of about 91 lakh voters, which is about 12 percent of the total voters, were deleted from the voter list due to that revision. This huge number of names being deleted created a huge political debate and 19 appellate tribunals were also formed on the orders of the Supreme Court to restore the names of the deleted voters. After that experience, this time the Commission has prepared this special camp and a four-tier grievance redressal scheme at the field level to ensure that no genuine and eligible citizen is deprived of the right to vote.
