Kolkata, Jan 20 (NationPress) The Election Commission of India is contemplating requesting clarifications from certain electoral registration officers (EROs) and assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) who permitted unlisted identity-proof documents during the hearing sessions for claims and objections to the draft voters list in West Bengal, disregarding the ECI's explicit directives.

The ECI had enumerated 13 acceptable documents for identity verification and instructed the EROs and AEROs to reject any other forms of identification.

Additionally, the Commission had tasked District Magistrates (DMs) and District Electoral Officers (DEOs) with ensuring strict compliance with these guidelines.

However, reports indicate multiple occurrences where unlisted documents were accepted, contrary to the ECI's established rules.

“This situation is not only prolonging the Special Intensive Revision process, as voters with unlisted documents will need to be called back for hearings, but it is also leading to accusations against the Commission of unfairly targeting voters during this process. Given these circumstances, the Commission is weighing the option of seeking explanations from those EROs and AEROs who accepted unlisted documents, defying the ECI’s clear directives,” an insider from the CEO’s office revealed.

The deadline for submitting claims and objections for the draft voters list lapsed on Monday, with hearings continuing until February 7. The final voters list is set to be published on February 14.

The Commission aims to conduct 700,000 hearings daily across 6,500 centers to adhere to the timelines for hearing and releasing the final voters list.

Following the publication of the final voters list, the entire ECI bench will visit West Bengal, after which the polling dates for the Assembly elections will be announced.