Kolkata: The 200 judicial officers from the two neighbouring states of Jharkhand and Odisha will reach West Bengal by Saturday, and join from March 9, the ongoing exercise of the judicial adjudication of the voters’ documents identified under the “logical discrepancy” category by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
They will be undergoing a two-day training programme on the judicial adjudication procedure Saturday and Sunday, and thereafter, from Monday, they will join the team of existing judicial officers from the state already involved in the ongoing judicial adjudication process, said sources in the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal.
“With the joining of the 200 judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha, the total number of judicial officers involved in the adjudication process will increase to 732. While most of these 200 judicial officers coming from Jharkhand and Odisha will be deployed in Kolkata, a few of them will also be deployed in other major district towns like Bardhaman in East Midnapore district, Asansol in West Burdwan district, Kharagpur in West Midnapore district, and Siliguri in Darjeeling district,” source in the CEO’s office said.
Their accommodation has been arranged primarily near the airport in Kolkata and the major railway stations, both in Kolkata and in the district towns.
Two other crucial developments related to the judicial adjudication component of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and poll preparedness for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state are scheduled for next week, especially Monday and Tuesday.
The full bench of the ECI, led by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), Gyanesh Kumar, will be arriving in Kolkata on the night of March 8 with a packed schedule for the next two days to review both the ongoing judicial exercise as well as the preparedness for the forthcoming Assembly polls.
A crucial hearing on the SIR and related judicial adjudication is scheduled at the Supreme Court March 10.
The final voters’ list in West Bengal, minus the cases referred for judicial adjudication, was published February 28. The supplementary list will be published in due course as per an earlier order of the Apex Court.
Over 60 lakh cases were referred for judicial adjudication, and till Thursday night, the process had been completed for around five lakh cases till Thursday night, as per the statistics available from the CEO’s office.