NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Tuesday published a draft list of deleted voters after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. The list features voters whose names were included in the state’s electoral rolls in 2025 but were deleted from the draft rolls of 2026.This comes after the first phase of the SIR exercise ended on December 11. The second phase – starting after December 16 – will involve filing of claims and objections. The notice phase, which includes issuance, hearings, verification and decisions on enumeration forms, as well as disposal of claims and objections, will be carried out concurrently by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).
All you need to know
- The poll body said voters’ names were deleted from the rolls on grounds of being absent from their registered addresses, having permanently shifted, being deceased, or being marked as “duplicate” voters in more than one constituency.
- The number of “uncollectable SIR enumeration forms” exceeds 58 lakh, news agency PTI reported, citing sources.
- According to EC the deleted voter list includes 24.17 lakh deceased voters, 19.88 lakh relocated voters, 12.20 lakh missing voters and 1.38 lakh duplicate or fake voters.
- The list is currently available on the commission’s portal: ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in/asd_sir.
- “The BLO, in consultation with the BLAs, has prepared the following list of voters whose enumeration forms have not been received. Aggrieved persons can submit their claims in Form 6 along with the declaration form and supporting documents after publication of Draft Roll 2026 during the period fixed for receiving claims and objections,” the poll body said.
- Election officials stressed that inclusion in the draft list does not guarantee final retention and that all flagged voters will be given an opportunity to be heard.
- The commission said that of the 7.66 crore enumeration forms issued for electors based on their presence in the 2025 rolls, over 58 lakh forms were found “uncollected” due to voters being absent at their registered addresses, having permanently shifted, being deceased, or having duplicate roll entries.
- EC-appointed special observer Subrata Gupta said, “Of the total enumeration forms we collected, over 1.34 crore contain logical discrepancies. These range from the same names appearing as both father and mother of certain voters to abnormal age differences between electors and their parents or grandparents. These errors may be bona fide in nature. They could also be mala fide.”
- “Some 30 lakh unmapped forms with the 2002 list have also been received and are included in this discrepancy list. Over 85 lakh forms have name mismatch issues with the 2002 rolls. There will also be claims and objections from aggrieved voters whose names get deleted from the draft rolls. Hearings will be conducted in each case to ensure an accurate final roll,” the retired IAS officer said.
The SIR process began on November 4 after the Election Commission announced the schedule on October 27, when West Bengal’s electorate stood at 7,66,37,529.
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Enumeration forms were printed for all voters and delivered door-to-door by BLOs. Officials said voters who submitted signed forms — even if partially filled — have been retained in the draft list, though their details will be subject to further verification.According to PTI, poll body data shows that a significant number of voters have been flagged during the process. Over 30 lakh voters have been placed in a “no-mapping” category as their names could not be linked with the 2002 electoral rolls. Hearings for this group are scheduled to begin on Wednesday.In addition, around 1.7 crore voters have been placed under varying degrees of scrutiny, with BLOs tasked to re-verify their details through door-to-door checks after the draft rolls are published. At the same time, the scale of exclusions has begun to draw attention.
