Kolkata: The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday published West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with officials stating that more than 58 lakh voter names have been deleted on various grounds, including death, migration and non-submission of enumeration forms.
According to official data, after these deletions, the state’s draft electoral rolls are expected to contain 7,08,16,631 voters, down by 58,20,898 from the earlier electorate of 7,66,37,529 before the SIR exercise.
With Assembly elections likely to be held in the state early next year, the draft rolls, along with a detailed booth-wise list of deleted voters and the reasons for deletion, have been made available on the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal website, the Election Commission’s voter portal and the ECINET application.
A senior commission official said the hearing process for affected voters would begin in about a week. The gap between the publication of the draft rolls and the start of hearings is due to the printing of hearing notices, their service to the concerned electors and the creation of digital backups on the EC database, the official explained.
The publication follows weeks of political anxiety and public uncertainty surrounding the fate of voters during the SIR exercise, which began on November 4 and concluded on December 11. According to the commission, the deletion list includes names that appeared in the January 2025 electoral rolls but do not feature in the draft rolls after SIR.
The list of deleted voters is accessible through a separate portal, allowing voters to check whether their own or family members’ names have been removed and under which category.
Commission sources said the deletions primarily arose from what were termed “uncollectable SIR enumeration forms”, which exceeded 58 lakh. These cases involved voters found to be deceased, permanently shifted from their registered addresses, untraceable, or recorded as duplicate voters in more than one constituency.
A detailed breakup released by the CEO’s office last week showed that 24,16,852 voters were marked as dead, 19,88,076 were found to have permanently shifted, and 12,20,038 were listed as missing or untraceable at their registered addresses. Another 1.38 lakh voters were identified as having duplicate entries, while 1,83,328 names were flagged as so-called ‘ghost’ voters. In addition, more than 57,000 names were deleted under other complications detected during the enumeration process.
In total, 58,20,898 names were excluded from the draft rolls. After these deletions, the draft electoral roll is expected to carry 7,08,16,631 voters across West Bengal, according to official figures.
The Election Commission emphasised that deletion from the draft roll does not mark the end of the process for affected voters.
“Aggrieved persons can submit their claims in Form 6 along with the Declaration Form and supporting documents after publication of the draft roll during the period fixed for receiving claims and objections, from December 16, 2025, to January 15, 2026,” an EC official said.
Special Roll Observer for West Bengal and former bureaucrat Subrata Gupta sought to reassure the public, urging voters whose names do not appear in the draft list not to panic. He said around 30 lakh voters whose details could not be matched with the 2002 electoral rolls would be called for hearings, where they would have the opportunity to produce documents and establish their eligibility before a final decision is taken.
The draft rolls had begun appearing on the Booth Level Officer (BLO) application a day before their formal publication, triggering intense political debate. Following Tuesday’s release, the commission advised all voters to verify their names either through online portals or offline by visiting their local BLOs.
Hard copies of the draft rolls will be available with BLOs at the booth level, and they have been instructed to remain present at polling booths as far as possible on the day of publication. Soft copies will also be provided to representatives of the state’s eight recognised political parties.
The publication of the draft rolls has further sharpened political divisions in the state. Soon after the release, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) alleged a “joint conspiracy” by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission, claiming that the prospect of hearings for nearly two crore voters amounted to an attempt to intimidate citizens and question their citizenship.
A senior TMC leader said the rights of every voter would be protected and warned against what the party described as a “coordinated effort to create fear”.
The BJP rejected the allegations. Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, mocked the charge, remarking, “This is just the beginning. Breakfast has just begun. There will be lunch, tea and then dinner.” While refraining from providing fresh figures on deletions, he said he would speak after the final rolls are published on February 14, as per the commission’s schedule.
The SIR process has also been accompanied by allegations of “SIR-related panic” following reports of deaths in parts of the state. The TMC has claimed that so far 40 ordinary citizens, including four BLOs, have died due to SIR panic, including cases of suicide.
The BJP has dismissed these claims as “politically motivated”, asserting that the ruling party is attempting to “cash in on human tragedies”.
With PTI inputs