The Election Commission (EC) announced a revised timeline for the crucial voter list cleanup process, allowing more time for officials to verify and update electoral rolls. Originally, the draft voter list was to be published on December 9, with the final list released earlier, but the deadline has been delayed to December 16 for the draft and February 14 for the final voter roll.

The extension follows concerns raised by opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, who met EC Chief Gyanesh Kumar to request a more manageable schedule for the exercise. Booth Level Officers (BLOs), responsible for door-to-door verification, have faced intense workloads leading to stress and, tragically, reported suicides in states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. The pressure stems from the exhaustive task of identifying duplicate, untraceable, and deceased voters within a compressed timeframe.

The Election Commission has identified nearly 18.7 lakh deceased voters still listed, and the total number of voters expected to be deleted from the rolls is now estimated at around 35 lakh. This figure also factors in those who have permanently moved to other states or are registered multiple times, highlighting the scale and complexity of maintaining accurate voter lists ahead of upcoming elections, including the West Bengal polls early next year.

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This extension aims to ensure a more thorough cleanup, preventing errors and improving the electoral process's transparency. With the winter parliamentary session starting, the SIR issue is also expected to be a point of significant debate among lawmakers. The EC’s accommodation of the extension reflects a balance between electoral integrity and practical challenges faced by election officials.

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