SIR Hearings Begin in Bengal, 32 Lakh 'Unmapped' Voters to Be Covered

TMC Accuses EC of Deleting Lakhs of Voters' Names to Aid BJP

PTI, KOLKATA, DEC 27, 2025: The hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls were underway in West Bengal on Saturday, with people queuing up in front of 3,234 centres across the state, a senior official said. Around 32 lakh "unmapped" voters, those who are unable to establish linkage with the 2002 electoral roll, will be called for hearings in the first phase, the official said. Altogether 4,500 micro-observers have been engaged for hearings in the first phase, which began at 11 am. Voters can submit any of 12 recognised documents, including Aadhaar, as proof of identity and address, an Election Commission official said. However, the Aadhaar card will not be accepted as a standalone document, he said. Those aged 85 years or above won’t have to physically come to the hearing camps as EC officials will undertake the process at their residences, he said.

"The hearing process is being conducted under the supervision of over 4,500 micro-observers, with only authorised officials such as EROs, AROs, BLOs and observers permitted at the centres. People are lining up in large numbers before every camp," said the official at the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).

No changes have been permitted once the hearing centres are finalised, as the measures aim to ensure transparency and accuracy in the revision process. The Election Commission (EC) had, on December 16, published the state's draft electoral rolls following SIR, deleting the names of more than 58 lakh voters on various grounds, including death, migration, and non-submission of enumeration forms.

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday accused the Election Commission of deleting the names of lakhs of legitimate voters from the electoral rolls under the SIR exercise to help the BJP ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls. A TMC delegation consisting of ministers Chandrima Bhattacharya, Sashi Panja, Aroop Biswas, Manas Bhuniya, and Malay Ghatak met Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal at his office and submitted a memorandum listing their grievances.

"We are seeing different sets of rules and practices being applied in Bengal compared to other states. In the name of cross-checking 'absent, shifted, and duplicate' voters, the EC has omitted around 58 lakh genuine voters by branding them as 'unmapped'," Bhattacharya told reporters after the meeting. The minister alleged that the action seems to be part of a bigger game plan to delete two crore voters' names from the electoral rolls in order to punish the people of the state for rejecting the BJP repeatedly.

Biswas alleged that the mobile application introduced by the EC does not allow 'unmapped' voters to submit requisite details through annexures of Forms 6 and 7, thereby depriving them of their voting rights. "When we pointed it out, Agarwal said that he was forwarding the complaint to Delhi," Biswas said. "Then how did the authorities arrive at such a huge number of omitted voters running into lakhs?" he questioned.

The minister also alleged that the hearing date was altered arbitrarily. "Initially, a particular date was fixed, which was later postponed to December 27. Now only five days have been given to complete the hearing process. Why such undue haste?" he said, alleging that the EC and the CEO’s office were acting at the behest of the BJP. Biswas said the TMC’s letter to the EC and the details of unmapped voters, whose names were struck off electoral rolls, must be uploaded on the commission’s website for the sake of transparency. He said names of people’s representatives, including councillors and their relatives, have been struck off the electoral rolls arbitrarily.

Bhuniya said: "I have witnessed 41 elections in the past, but had never seen the Constitution trampled in such a way."