EC to publish West Bengal draft rolls, setting stage for scrutiny ahead of 2026 polls

Kolkata: The Election Commission is set to publish the draft electoral rolls for West Bengal on Tuesday following the completion of the statewide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ahead of the 2026 assembly polls.

The election authorities are racing to complete last-minute preparations, with officials saying on Monday that the exercise is on track to meet the deadline.

Commission sources said the draft list has already been uploaded on the internal Booth Level Officer (BLO) app, allowing field officials to access booth-wise voter data ahead of public release.

The state Chief Electoral Officer's office has also activated district-level websites to enable voters to check their details online from Tuesday.

The publication of the draft rolls will mark the end of the enumeration phase and the beginning of a far more contentious stage – claims, objections and hearings— that will stretch into February 2026.

During this period, voters flagged for discrepancies will be called for verification before the final rolls are published, tentatively scheduled for February 14 next year.

The SIR process began on November 4 after the Election Commission announced the schedule on October 27, when West Bengal's electorate stood at 7,66,37,529.

Enumeration forms were printed for all voters and delivered door-to-door by BLOs. According to officials, voters who submitted signed forms, even if partially filled have been retained in the draft list, though their details will be subject to further verification.

Commission data shows that a significant number of voters have been flagged during the process. Over 30 lakh voters have been placed in a "no-mapping" category, as their names could not be linked with the 2002 electoral rolls. Hearings for this group are scheduled to begin from Wednesday.

In addition, around 1.7 crore voters have been kept under varying degrees of scrutiny, with BLOs tasked to re-verify their details through door-to-door checks after the draft rolls are published. At the same time, the scale of exclusions has begun to draw attention.

According to the latest status report, over 58 lakh names have been marked for deletion in the draft rolls, primarily under standard categories such as deceased, shifted, untraceable and duplicate voters, as well as those who did not submit enumeration forms.

"Our assessment is that around 59 lakh names will appear as deleted in the draft rolls," a member of the BLO Adhikar Raksha Committee told reporters.

Election officials have stressed that inclusion in the draft list does not guarantee final retention, and that all flagged voters will get an opportunity to be heard.

A senior official in the CEO's office last week had said more than 56 lakh voters were marked "uncollectible" during verification, including cases of deaths, relocation outside the state, untraceable voters and duplicate entries.

Officials maintained that uniform criteria were applied across districts and that final outcomes would depend on the hearing process.

Even before the draft rolls are made public, constituency-wise deletion data released last week has injected a sharp political edge into the exercise.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Bhabanipur constituency recorded significantly higher deletions than Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari's Nandigram, a contrast that has revived memories of their closely fought 2021 Assembly contest.

Election officials, however, underlined that Bhabanipur was not the most affected seat. Chowringhee in north Kolkata topped the list, followed by Kolkata Port and Tollygunge.

In BJP-held constituencies, Asansol South and Siliguri also reported substantial deletions. District-wise, South 24 Parganas recorded the highest number of deletions, while Kotulpur in Bankura saw the lowest.

More than 90,000 BLOs were deployed across the state during the SIR exercise. Employee unions and voter groups are now bracing for the hearing phase.

Swapan Mandal, general secretary of the Vote Workers' United Forum, said BLOs would be required to serve notices and manage large volumes of hearings, flagging concerns over the handling of disputed cases.

The scale of the revision has drawn comparisons with Bihar, where a similar SIR earlier this year saw 65 lakhs of names left out of draft rolls, triggering political backlash.

As the draft rolls open to public scrutiny on Tuesday, the Election Commission faces the twin challenge of defending the credibility of the revision process while steering a politically charged verification phase in a state heading into an election year.