Overview
- An Assistant Electoral Registration Officer in Howrah, Mousumi Sarkar, quit SIR duties on January 8, alleging misuse of “logical discrepancy” flags to delete genuine voters and citing an official memo on 2002 roll conversion errors that triggered mismatches.
- The Election Commission appointed four additional Special Roll Observers — Dr Shailesh, Ratan Biswas, Sandeep Rewaji Rathod and Vikash Singh — to strengthen supervision of the claims-and-objections phase.
- Micro-observers were instructed to independently monitor verification and hearings, report any deviations through designated channels, and ensure transparency and neutrality.
- The poll panel issued show-cause notices to three Booth Level Officers after voters listed as deceased appeared at a public meeting, with an inquiry underway into the cause of the error.
- Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lodged another letter alleging bias and voter exclusion, citing distress figures and notices to eminent citizens, while the ECI has exempted overseas citizens from SIR hearings and the final rolls are scheduled for publication on February 14.