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The Additional Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal on Thursday granted certain groups of people an exemption from appearing personally in Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearings, particularly for students and other individuals who are temporarily residing abroad.
According to the directive from the Additional CEO to all District Election Officers, the exemption applies to the electors who are temporarily residing abroad for the purpose of study, official engagement, medical or any other purpose. Such individuals will not be required to be physically present during SIR hearings before Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) or Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) (Unmapped and logical discrepancy cases). "These electors may depute any authorised family member to attend the hearing with proof of relation with the elector and submit any of the admissible documents as notified by the Commission vide no. 23/2025-ERS (Vol. I, II), dated 27.10.2025. The procedure being followed for personal appearance cases shall be adopted in this cases also," the order further read. "This may please be circulated to all EROs/AEROs and Micro Observers for compliance with an immediate effect," the directive added. Meanwhile, the Special Intensive Revision is being conducted across West Bengal to verify voter details, remove duplicate and ineligible entries, and ensure the electoral rolls remain accurate and inclusive. The exercise involves booth-level officers, electoral registration officers, and hearings at multiple levels to address complaints related to inclusion, deletion, or correction of voter names. The hearing phase for the ongoing SIR started on December 27 for nearly 32 lakh electors in West Bengal who could not trace themselves, their parents, or their grandparents in the 2002 electoral roll. During the hearing phase, identification documents of these 'unmapped' electors will be recorded and verified by election officials. This phase will conclude on February 7, 2026. Each Assembly constituency is likely to have 11 hearing tables across multiple venues, like schools or government offices. Cumulatively, 294 electoral registration officers, 3,200 assistant electoral registration officers, 4,600 micro-observers and over 80,000 booth-level officers will be engaged in the hearing process across the State, sources in the CEO's office said. The Election Commission of India recently appointed micro-observers from existing Group B Central government staff in West Bengal and has been tasked to scrutinise the hearing process in West Bengal. (ANI)
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