95 pc of deleted voters are Muslims in West Bengal’s Nandigram SIR

Kolkata: Muslims have accounted for 95.5 per cent of voters deleted from seven Special Intensive Revision (SIR) supplementary lists in West Bengal’s Nandigram.

According to the Sabar Institute, a Kolkata-based public policy research organisation, the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) data reveals that Muslims were largely removed from across the supplementary lists. In six of the lists, the percentage of Muslims excluded varies from 60.9 per cent to 98.7 per cent.

Muslims make up 25 per cent of the population in Nandigram, the East Midnapore Assembly constituency.

In contrast, of the 75 per cent of the non-Muslim population, a share of just 4.5 per cent were removed. Although the trend is consistent with male and female deletions, there is a clear pattern. The only exception was list 4a, where all those removed were non-Muslim women, with no record of any Muslim deletions.

Sabar Institute noted that the data is concerning, as the disproportionality becomes stark when compared to the population share, since Muslims account for nearly all of the removals at 95.5 per cent.

“This raises serious concerns about the SIR process and its impact,” the institute said.

Based on the ECI’s December 2025 Absent, Shifted, Deceased and Duplicate (ASDD) dataset, Muslims make up 33.3 per cent of deletions, while non-Muslims 66.7 per cent. This data also shows an imbalance relative to population share, though less remarkably than the supplementary lists.

Voters whose names were deleted can appeal to 19 appellate tribunals established by the ECI across the state.

Since the nomination window for the first phase closed on April 6, the electoral roll for Nandigram is frozen, meaning that unless the removed voters received a chance to appeal, they remain ineligible to vote.

Name of people in Matua, minority communities deleted: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, April 7, alleged that names of people belonging to the Matua and minority communities were deleted from the post-SIR voter rolls in the state. She had earlier urged people to cast their votes to “take revenge” for the deletion of people’s names.

“Cast your votes to take revenge for deletion of people’s names, and against the SIR so that the results reflect that.”

Banerjee asked the Trinamool Congress workers to remain vigilant till the counting date on May 4. 

Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in two phases – on April 23 and April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.