EC starts publishing post-SIR electoral rolls in Bengal in phases

Kolkata, Feb 27 (PTI) The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday started publishing the post-SIR electoral rolls in West Bengal in phases, as officials put up hard copies of the list in some districts such as Bankura.

Till reports last received, the list was yet to be made available online on the designated EC portals and mobile app.

No clarity was yet received on the total number of deletions from the draft rolls, but EC sources said that names of over 1.35 lakh voters may have been deleted from Bankura district.

The publication of the list will classify 7.08 crore electors as 'approved', 'deleted' or 'under adjudication', the last category signifying those whose names are currently being scrutinised by judicial officers and whose inclusion or deletion will be determined in the subsequent supplementary lists.

The SIR process in West Bengal began on November 4 last year with the distribution of enumeration forms among voters. The EC took 116 days to provisionally complete the exercise and publish the final but incomplete list amid political turbulence, revision of document verification rules and legal challenges.

The draft rolls published on December 16 saw the electorate shrink from 7.66 crore -- to whom enumeration forms were distributed based on the appearance of names in the state's electoral rolls till August 2025 -- to 7.08 crore, with over 58 lakh names deleted due to death, migration, duplication or untraceability.

The second phase covered hearings for 1.67 crore electors -- 1.36 crore flagged for 'logical discrepancies' and 31 lakh lacking mapping. Around 60 lakh voters remain under adjudication on grounds of 'logical discrepancy' in their enumeration forms.

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the first such statewide exercise since 2002, was conceived by the Election Commission as a statutory clean-up ahead of a major election. PTI SMY PNT ACD