The Election Commission of India (ECI) will release West Bengal's final voters list in January, 2024 a senior official said on Saturday.

After publishing the list, the ECI will be sending its full bench to West Bengal, he said, adding that the state chief secretary and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) have been sent communications asking to start preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.

"The final list of voters will be published early next month (January) and after that, the full bench of the ECI will come to West Bengal. Similar steps are likely to be taken for other states as well. We have directed the chief secretary and CEO of West Bengal to start the preparations for the general election," he told PTI.

When contacted, a top bureaucrat said that in the letter the poll panel has directed the West Bengal chief secretary to prepare a list of both administrative officials (IAS officers) and police officers (IPS officers and WBPS officers) detailing their current posting and the duration of their stay in that particular position, "Preparing lists of IAS and IPS officers mentioning their current posting and before any election is a routine work. We have already started working on that. Once complete, we will share it with the ECI," the bureaucrat said.

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