Congress leader Salman Anees Soz on Monday took a swipe at the office of Delhi's chief electoral officer (CEO)’s “superfast procedures” after the poll body said that it has resolved as many as 20 lakh cases out of 33 lakh in Delhi where voters were issued notices under SIR for logical discrepancies or for not being mapped in the 2002 electoral rolls.
“The Selection Commission says it has resolved 20 lakh SIR cases in Delhi in a matter of days. In West Bengal, 37 lakh appeals remain pending. At the current pace, they could take 12 years to resolve”, Soz wrote in a post on X.
“Why weren't Delhi's superfast procedures introduced in Bengal before the elections?” he questioned, seeking accountability for “VoteChori in West Bengal”.
In July, the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of the Calcutta High Court verbally observed that, at the current pace of the appellate tribunals, it would take 21 years to resolve all pending voter deletion appeals in Bengal fully.
Also Read
The Delhi CEO said in a statement that if any person has any grievance, they can "feel free to contact any of the 14,947 BLOs, 902 AEROs, 70 EROs, 13 DEOs or the Chief Electoral Officer Delhi".
"We had started a proactive campaign to resolve these issues," it said. The CEO, Delhi and the Election Commission of India (ECI) are committed to ensuring that no eligible voter is left out of the electoral roll, the statement said.
Special camps are also being held where the booth-level officers (BLOs) assist the voters. Such camps will be held to deal with SIR cases on October 18 and October 25.
The CEO office assured that all eligible electors who submit Form-6 along with requisite documents will be included in the electoral rolls of Delhi.
Since the publication of electoral rolls of 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi on August 31, a total of 2,17,391 persons have filed Form-6 so far to become voters.
Over 47 lakh voters out of a total of 1.45 crore were removed from the draft rolls due to logical discrepancies related to name, age or other details of the voters and also for not furnishing details of the 2002 SIR rolls.
In Bengal, too, the CEO announced on Monday that District Election Officers (DEOs) across the state have begun campaigns to identify eligible voters whose names were deleted during the SIR of electoral rolls and facilitate their inclusion in the voters' list.