Bengal SIR: 50 lakh names identified for likely exclusion from voters’ list

Kolkata: Around 50 lakh names in West Bengal have been identified for exclusion in the voters’ list as per the latest trend available during the digitisation of the enumeration forms in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the Election Commission of India (ECI) that started from November 4.

The same figure was a little over 46 lakh as per the trend of digitisation completed till Tuesday evening, and by Wednesday night, it reached nearly 50 lakh. This means that a total of around four lakh names have been included in the list of names eligible for exclusion from the voters’ list within 24 hours.

Insiders from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, have said that of the 50 lakh names found eligible for exclusion till Wednesday night, over 23 lakh names come under the “deceased voters” category, followed by those in the “shifted” voters’ category at over 18 lakh.

While the number of “untraceable” voters stands at over seven lakhs, the rest are “duplicate” voters and those marked for deletion for other reasons.

The final picture of the names marked for deletion from the voters’ list will be clear after the draft voters’ list is published on December 16.

The publication of the draft list will follow the notice phase, which is issuance, hearing, verification, and decision on enumeration forms and disposal of claims and objections to be done concurrently by the electoral registration officers (EROs), happening between December 16 and February 7, 2026.

The checking of the various parameters of electoral rolls and obtaining the ECI’s permission for final publication will be on February 10, 2026.

The final publication of the electoral roll will be on February 14, which was earlier fixed on February 7.

The total number of voters in West Bengal, as per the electoral roll as of October 27, is 7,66,37,529.