Around 32 lakh unmapped voters to be called in phase 1 of SIR hearings from Dec 27 in Bengal
Kolkata (PTI): Around 32 lakh unmapped voters will be called in the first phase of hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, officials said.
Hearings for this category, in which voters could not link their names with those of family members in the 2002 electoral rolls, will begin from December 27, he said.
"We have started sending notices to around 10 lakh such voters from today, while the same will be issued to another 22 lakh voters from Tuesday," the official at the office of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer told PTI.
During the enumeration phase, a total of 31,68,424 unmapped voters were identified across the state, he said.
He said that the proceedings will be conducted at district magistrates' offices, sub-divisional offices, various government departments, as well as in schools and colleges.
Voters with logical discrepancies will be taken up in the next phase, for which guidelines have been sought from the Election Commission, another official said on Monday.
Each hearing will be conducted under the supervision of a micro-observer, he said.
Training for 4,000 micro-observers will be held in two phases on December 24 in Kolkata, he said, noting that all the micro-observers are officials from the state.
Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the micro-observers lack knowledge of the local Bengali language.
Meanwhile, a delegation from the Election Commission will visit the state to review the progress of the SIR of the electoral rolls, sources in the office of the state CEO said.
"The commission's Principal Secretary SB Joshi and Deputy Secretary Abhinav Agarwal will arrive in the state to assess the progress of the hearing phase under the SIR process," he said.
The officials will also attend the training programme for micro-observers on December 24, he added.
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Trump warns he's considering limited strikes as Iranian diplomat says proposed deal is imminent
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump warned on Friday that limited strikes against Iran are possible even as the country's top diplomat said Tehran expects to have a proposed deal ready in the next few days following nuclear talks with the United States.
In response to a reporter's question on whether the US could take limited military action as the countries negotiate, Trump said, “I guess I can say I am considering that.” Earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a TV interview that his country was planning to finalise a draft deal in “the next two to three days” to then send to Washington.
“I don't think it takes long, perhaps, in a matter of a week or so, we can start real, serious negotiations on the text and come to a conclusion,” Araghchi said on MSNOW's “Morning Joe” show.
The tensions between the longtime adversaries have ramped up as the Trump administration pushes for concessions from Iran and has built up the largest US military presence in the Middle East in decades, with more warships and aircraft on the way. Both countries have signalled that they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran's nuclear programme fizzle out.
“We are prepared for war, and we are prepared for peace,” Araghchi said Friday.
Trump said a day earlier that he believes 10 to 15 days is “enough time” for Iran to reach a deal following recent rounds of indirect negotiations, including this week in Geneva, that made little visible progress. But the talks have been deadlocked for years, and Iran has refused to discuss wider US and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups.
Araghchi also said Friday that his American counterparts have not asked for zero enrichment of uranium as part of the latest round of talks, which is in contradiction to what US officials have said.
"What we are now talking about is how to make sure that Iran's nuclear programme, including enrichment, is peaceful and will remain peaceful forever," he said.
He added that in return Iran will implement some confidence-building measures in exchange for relief on economic sanctions.
In response to Araghchi's claim, a White House official said Trump has been clear that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or the capacity to build them and that it cannot enrich uranium. The official wasn't authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Tehran has long insisted that any negotiations should only focus on its nuclear programme and that it hasn't been enriching uranium since US and Israeli strikes last June on Iranian nuclear sites. Trump said at the time that the strikes had “obliterated” Iran's nuclear sites, but the exact damage is unknown as Tehran has barred international inspectors.
Iran has also insisted that its nuclear programme is peaceful. The US and others suspect it is aimed at eventually developing weapons.
