ECI Publishes Post-SIR Electoral Rolls for State: Around 66 lakh names deleted, 60 lakh under adjudication

PTI, Feb 28, 2026, Kolkata : Around 63.66 lakh names, nearly 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted in West Bengal since the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) began in November last year, bringing down the total number of voters in the state to over 7.04 crore ahead of the assembly elections due in April, EC officials said. 

The phased publication of the final but incomplete rolls marked the culmination of a 116-day statewide exercise that began on November 4, when booth-level officers started distributing enumeration forms. The draft rolls published on December 16 had already pared down the electorate from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore, deleting over 58 lakh names on grounds of death, migration, duplication, and untraceability. With nearly eight lakh additional deletions recorded after hearings and scrutiny, the total number of SIR-linked omissions has now climbed to around 66 lakh, according to senior officials.

The figure could still shift as fresh inclusions under Form 6 and objections under Form 7 are processed and supplementary rolls issued. Around 60.06 lakh voters have been categorised as 'under adjudication', largely on grounds of 'logical discrepancies' in their forms. Their fate will be decided by judicial officers in the coming weeks, potentially altering the electoral arithmetic further.

The scale of deletions and the large number of names kept under adjudication have turned the SIR into a high-stakes political flashpoint. District-wise data underlined the scale of the shake-up. In Nadia, bordering Bangladesh, around 2.73 lakh names have been deleted, with the electorate dipping from 44.18 lakh at the start of the process to 41.45 lakh in the final roll. The electorate had gone down to 42,02,261 in the draft rolls. Bankura saw a net reduction of about 1.18 lakh names. From an initial 30,33,830 voters in November, the draft rolls saw the number dip to 29,01,009. After further scrutiny, around 4,000 more deletions were recorded, partially offset by fresh inclusions, leaving the final figure at around 29.15 lakh.

In north Kolkata, comprising seven assembly constituencies currently held by the TMC, around 4.07 lakh names were omitted during SIR, of which 3.9 lakh were removed in the draft stage and another 17,000 in the final list. The scale of fresh additions in the zone is yet to be officially ascertained. Alipurduar in north Bengal recorded 1,02,835 deletions, with 11,96,651 names featuring in the final rolls. The electoral rolls of Hooghly also witnessed a churn as the number of voters dipped from 47,75,099 voters at the beginning of the process to 44,40,293 now, reflecting a total deletion of 3,34,806 names since November, while 1,73,064 voters remain under adjudication, district administration sources said. The electorate of the district had dipped to 44,56,224 in the draft rolls.

Hard copies of the updated rolls were displayed at SDO and BDO offices across districts, drawing long queues of anxious residents checking whether their names had been marked 'approved', 'deleted' or placed under 'consideration'. Soft copies were yet to appear on the designated EC portals and mobile applications till last reports. The political temperature, on the other hand, rose in tandem with the publication of the rolls.