The Election Commission of India has indicated that as many as 35.23 lakh names may be excluded from the draft electoral roll in West Bengal during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
According to officials, the bulk of deletions consist of voters who have died but whose names were never removed from the rolls. Approximately 18.7 lakh such deceased voters have been identified. Additionally, the enumeration teams have listed around 3.8 lakh individuals as “untraceable,” meaning they could not be physically verified at their registered addresses during door-to-door verification.
Around 11.82 lakh cases have been marked as “shifted,” referring to voters who have permanently changed their residence to another constituency or region. Another category includes about 77,560 entries which have been flagged as fake or duplicate voter identities.
Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal clarified that the objective of the special revision is to produce a voter list containing only legitimate and verified names. He emphasized that no invalid entries will be included in the draft roll. Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) have been conducting large-scale ground verification, collecting data directly from households to correct or update electoral records.
Officials further noted that so far nearly 88.5 percent of voter data has already been digitized under the revision programme, and the final figure of deletions may change once the remaining listings are completed. The comprehensive verification aims to strengthen the accuracy of the upcoming voter list, ensuring a cleaner, more reliable electoral roll ahead of future elections in the state.