West Bengal CEO urges ECI to extend SIR hearing by 7 days

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal on Saturday has sought seven day's extension of hearing from the Election Commission of India (ECI) as hearing is still pending in some districts even as Bengal SIR of electoral rolls is underway.

The last date of hearing of Bengal SIR was February 7(today) and the due date for final roll publication was February 14. However, the final roll publication is likely to get delayed at least by seven days. The approximate date for final roll publication is likely to be February 21.

WB-CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal said that the final date of publication of final rolls subsequently may get delayed at least by seven days due to the hearing extension by seven days.


"I have sought a seven day's time extension today from ECI. Earlier, today (February) was the last day of hearing. Naturally, publication of final electoral rolls will also be delayed," Agarwal said.

The CEO sought the extension from ECI after he received information from DEOs that work is not fully complete. "In some places, hearing is incomplete while in other places uploading of documents is not complete. There is verification due and in some places, the final decisions of EROs and AEROs are pending," he said.

"Altogether 96-97% hearing has been completed while 3-4% is still due. Hearing is at various stages in various districts. In North Kolkata, the hearing is due in one assembly seat. In South Kolkata, mop up hearing is on. In South 24 Parganas district, hearings are due in 7-8 seats. Darjeeling's Kurseong mo-up hearing is on," Agarwal said.

Uploading of documents 75-85% is completed. Around 15-20% is due. Around 70-80% verification of uploaded documents.

"We expect the final draft roll to be published by February 21," Agarwal added.