Kolkata, Jan 30 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI), on Friday, announced the change of responsibilities of the micro-observers engaged in the review of the hearings on claims and objections regarding the draft voters’ list in West Bengal, which is the current stage of the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR).

As of now, the micro-observers had been deputed at the different hearing centres to supervise whether the hearing sessions were being conducted as per the guidelines set by the ECI.

However, insiders from the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that from Monday onwards, the micro-observers will be assigned to supervise whether the supporting identity documents furnished by the voters during the hearing session are uploaded in the system or not, following the ECI-mandated guidelines or not.

“The micro-observers will supervise and ensure that only documents listed by the Commission are uploaded as supporting identity documents. However, the micro-observers will be the first-level of filter in the matter. After the documents are uploaded, the special roll observers will super-check the documents uploaded and will filter cases where unlisted documents have been uploaded,” an insider from the CEO’s Office said.

The decision was taken at a marathon virtual meeting of the full bench of ECI with the top officials from the CEO’s office and the special roll observers.

On Friday, the ECI had also made it clear that under all circumstances, the tasks of completing the hearing session and uploading the documents will have to be completed by the scheduled deadline of February 7.

The final voters’ list in West Bengal is scheduled to be published on February 14.

Later, the ECI’s full bench will come to Kolkata, and following that, the polling dates for the crucial Assembly elections in West Bengal scheduled later this year will be announced.

The SIR has been underway in 12 states and Union Territories of the country, including West Bengal, since November 4.

The draft voters’ list was published in West Bengal on December 16 following which the hearing phase regarding the SIR began.

In the first stage of the SIR, hearings were done for the “unmapped” voters, which had already been completed.

In the current stage of the SIR, hearings for the “logical discrepancy” cases are underway.

–IANS

src/khz