SIR of electoral rolls commences in Bengal with BLOs visiting voters' residences

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls commenced in West Bengal on Tuesday, with booth-level officers (BLOs) visiting voters' residences and distributing enumeration forms to them, an EC official said.

Altogether, 80,681 BLOs have been deployed to conduct the exercise, he said.

"Overall, 7.66 crore enumeration forms have so far been prepared for the 294 assembly constituencies in the state, and each voter will get two forms. BLO would countersign both forms. The officer would retain one form for the Election Commission of India and return the second with a stamped acknowledgement, which may be required for future reference," one of the officials said while elaborating on the process.

No untoward incident has been reported since the house-to-house distribution of enumeration forms started this morning, he said.

"We are hopeful that the process will proceed smoothly across the state," the official told PTI.

SIR-related help desks have also been opened at the offices of the DEOs across West Bengal.

This month-long process of house-to-house enumeration will continue till December 4, and the draft rolls will be published on December 9. Claims and objections can be raised from December 9 to January 8. Notices will be issued, and hearings and verifications will take place between December 9 and January 31.

The final electoral rolls will be published on February 7.