The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced that 5.46 lakh names have been deleted from West Bengal’s electoral rolls as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists ahead of the Assembly elections expected in April or May.
According to the poll panel, a total of 60,06,675 cases have been categorised as “doubtful and pending” and placed under adjudication. The Commission said these cases will be examined by judicial officers, and the names of those found eligible will be restored to the rolls through a supplementary list after due verification.
The ECI also stated that it did not receive enumeration forms from 58,20,899 voters during the revision process. These include electors who were reported dead, absent from their registered addresses, shifted to other locations, already enrolled elsewhere, or otherwise unavailable during the verification drive.
In contrast, 1,82,036 voters were newly added to the rolls through Form 6, meant for inclusion of eligible citizens, and Form 6A, used for overseas electors.
Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal said that West Bengal currently has 7.04 crore voters, a figure that includes those whose names are under adjudication.
The draft electoral rolls, published on December 16, had indicated that over 58 lakh names were removed after being marked as deceased, shifted, or absent. Following the publication of the draft list, notices were issued to approximately 1.36 crore individuals regarding logical discrepancies in their records. Additionally, 31.68 lakh “unmapped” voters were served summons as part of the scrutiny process.
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