Kolkata, Dec 29 || The Election Commission of India (ECI) has clarified that an alternative to the specified "land or house allotment certificates" will not be treated as valid identity documents at the hearing sessions on claims and objections regarding the draft voters' list in West Bengal.
The sessions commenced on Saturday.
The Commission had specified a total of 13 documents, out of which "any land/house allotment certificate by the Government" is one of the documents and the 11th document in the list of 13 specified by the ECI on this count.
Insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said that the system of uploading of identity documents in the Commission's database has been programmed in such a manner that any other land or housing finance certificate other than a Commission-specified "any land/house allotment certificate by Government" cannot be uploaded in the system.
Hence, explained a CEO's office insider, the certificates issued by the West Bengal government under the "Banglar Bari", state-owned housing finance scheme, will not automatically be treated as a genuine identity document.