EC uploads names of voters with ‘logical discrepancies’ on website following SC order

The Election Commission on Saturday evening uploaded on its website the names of voters included in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) “logical discrepancies” list, following a directive of the Supreme Court, a poll panel official said.

District electoral officers will now download the list and display it at gram panchayat bhavans, block offices of talukas and ward offices across West Bengal, as ordered by the apex court.

On January 19, the Supreme Court directed the EC to publicly display the names of voters figuring in the “logical discrepancies” list by Saturday, noting that around 1.25 crore voters in the state had been flagged during the revision exercise. The court emphasised the need for transparency and for voters to be informed so that they get an opportunity to verify and correct their details.

“The lists of unmapped voters and those with logical discrepancies are available on our website,” an official said.

According to the Election Commission, logical discrepancies arise from inconsistencies detected during digital cross-verification of electoral data, particularly while linking voters with the 2002 electoral roll. These include mismatches in parents’ names and cases where the age difference between a voter and their parent is found to be less than 15 years or more than 50 years , which are considered statistically improbable.

Voters included in the list are not automatically deleted but are flagged for verification to rule out errors in data entry, duplication or incorrect mapping, officials said.

The poll panel had earlier faced uncertainty in complying with the Supreme Court’s directive as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) did not receive the required software until late Friday night, a well-placed source said.