Bengal SIR: 32L ‘adjudication’ cases resolved, 40% marked ‘deleted’

SOUMITRA NANDI, MP, 26 Mar 2026, Kolkata: Out of a total of 60 lakh voters placed “under adjudication,” 32 lakh cases have been disposed of, as of Wednesday, with nearly 40 per cent marked as “deleted.” This amounts to roughly 13 lakh cases out of the 32 lakh adjudicated so far, handled by the 700-odd judicial officers involved in the exercise.

The development comes after the first supplementary voter list was published on Monday, around midnight. While 32 lakh cases have been adjudicated, the Commission has uploaded the details of only 10 lakh electors in the supplementary list.

State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Manoj Agarwal, on Tuesday, said that the booth-wise list of electors against whom the Commission has received e-signed copies from the judicial officers has been uploaded in the supplementary list. “The judicial officers are sending lists e-signed time to time and not all at a time. It is a dynamic process,” he had said.

According to sources in the office of the CEO, the Calcutta High Court has asked the poll body to publish the next supplementary list on Friday. The Commission, through a written communication, sought the permission of the Calcutta High Court whether they can upload a supplementary list on a daily basis based on the progress of the adjudicated cases. However, Commission sources informed that for now, the list can be published on Friday, after which further decisions will be taken.

Over 63.66 lakh voters have already been removed from the draft and final electoral rolls. With nearly 13 lakh names deleted through adjudication so far, it is estimated that once all 60 lakh adjudication cases are resolved, the total number of deletions could rise to 87–88 lakh if the current trend continues.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India conducted a training programme for all 294 Returning Officers (RO) for the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, 2026 on Wednesday at the divisional headquarters at Jalpaiguri, Malda, Presidency, Burdwan and Medinipur divisions.

It was emphasised during training that ROs ensure that the Presiding Officers (POs) share the signed copies of Form 17C, which contains the account of votes recorded by all the polling agents present at the close of poll. ROs were also briefed on the PO module of ECINET. Through this module, the POs will upload voter turnout data on the ECINET app on a two-hourly basis and at the close of polls. The data will be automatically compiled at the RO level so that near-real-time approximate voting trends are available.

Meanwhile, in a late development, the Election Commission has removed East Midnapore District Magistrate Yunis Rishin Ismail over allegations of irregularities in the inclusion of “contractual employees” in the list of poll personnel. In his place, IAS officer Niranjan Kumar has been appointed as the new District Magistrate and District Election Officer of the district. Notably, Kumar had earlier been assigned the role of Roll Observer during the SIR phase.