Overview
- West Bengal opened the first phase of SIR hearings for about 32 lakh ‘unmapped’ voters at 3,234 centres with roughly 4,500 micro‑observers overseeing proceedings.
- Election officials in West Bengal said elderly citizens will be heard at home and that accepted proofs include 12 documents, with Aadhaar not valid as a standalone document.
- The Election Commission rejected TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s allegation of targeted deletions, saying the cited names remain on the draft roll and that hearings were issued under SIR rules.
- Assam’s integrated draft roll after a Special Revision lists 2.51 crore voters excluding 93,021 D‑voters, with 10,56,291 deletions due to death (4.79 lakh), shifting (5.24 lakh) and duplicate entries (53,619); claims and objections close on January 22 and final rolls are due February 10.
- West Bengal’s civil service officers’ association warned of ‘system‑driven’ deletions that could bypass EROs, as TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee demanded publication of 1.36 crore ‘logical discrepancy’ cases and said he will meet the CEC on December 31.