West Bengal SIR: Over 5 million voters identified for likely exclusion from voter list

The Election Commission of India flagged 58,08,202 (around 6 million) names as potentially eligible for exclusion from the electoral rolls following completion of its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal. The poll body on Friday (Dec 12) extended the duration of the ongoing electoral clean-up drive for five states and a union territory, including Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while in Rajasthan, West Bengal and Goa, it marked the completion of enumeration.

According to the Election Commission, officials said that the figures represent the count of deceased, missing, relocated, bogus and other disqualified voters identified during the enumeration process in the state. The commission expected he final figure to be similar to the draft rolls with minor adjustments after considering complaints and anomalies flagged by the voters.

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West Bengal's electoral roll, last certified on 27 October 2025, records 7,66,37,529 registered voters. In this context, the provisional figure of 50 lakh represents a sizeable share of the electorate. Election officials and the Chief Electoral Officer’s office have repeatedly emphasised that this number is only a preliminary outcome of the digitisation process. They clarified that it must be viewed within the administrative sequence that follows: publication of the draft roll, issuance of notices, hearings, resolution of claims and objections, and finally, the Election Commission of India’s scrutiny and approval of the final list.

The poll body classified 1,35,575 voters as bogus, while another 57,509 voters are placed under the "other" category, all of whom are slated for removal from the draft list. It will publish the draft electoral roll on December 6, following which voters can raise objections, report errors or submit missing information.

The Election Commission launched the second phase of the SIR drive across 12 states and Union Territories with preparatory printing and training from 28–30 October 2025, followed by house-to-house enumeration from 4 November to 11 December 2025. Draft electoral rolls were published on 16 December 2025, with the claims and objections window open until 15 January 2026, and the final voter list set for publication by mid-February 2026.

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However, the exercise became a point of contention between the ruling NDA alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Bloc, with Congress describing it as a move aimed at vote theft. In contrast, the BJP described it as a routine exercise to clean up electoral rolls in the country.