West Bengal Removes 7.6% Voters From Electoral Roll: 1.6 Crore Under Scrutiny For Discrepancies

Kolkata:

West Bengal's electoral draft roll was released on Tuesday morning, concluding phase 1 of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Approximately 58 lakh voters, representing 7.6 percent of the electorate, were removed from the voter list due to deaths, relocations, absences, or duplicate registrations. This reduction has brought the total voter count down from 7.6 crore to 7.1 crore.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal highlighted that this marks the first digitally conducted SIR exercise. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have digitally uploaded all forms, making them accessible to district officials and the Election Commission (EC). "The EC has analyzed the extensive data and identified 'logical discrepancies' for 1,67,45,911 voters," he stated.

The CEO elaborated on seven flagged categories: individuals with more than six persons linked in progeny mapping; those with mismatched father's names between the 2002 SIR list and current voters list; voters showing linkages to parents with less than 50 years age difference; those with less than 40 years age difference with grandparents; gender mismatches; electors above 45 years unable to self-map to the 2002 SIR list; and additional gender mismatch cases.

The highest number of discrepancies was found in father's name mismatches - 85,01,486 (11.09 percent). This was followed by those linked to more than six persons in progeny mapping - 24,21,133 (3.16 percent), and electors over 45 years who couldn't trace themselves in the 2002 SIR list - 20,74,256 (2.71 percent). Gender mismatches affected 13,46,918 voters (1.76 percent), while 11,95,230 (1.56 percent) showed less than 15 years age difference with parents. Additionally, 8,77,736 voters (1.15 percent) demonstrated age differences with parents less than 50 years, and 3,29,152 (0.43 percent) showed age differences with grandparents less than 40 years.

All these flagged categories are expected to receive hearing notices. Sources within the CEO office indicated that minor gender mismatch errors will likely be corrected, potentially reducing the number of eliminations from the Bengal voter list.

BLOs will hand-deliver notices, with hearings anticipated to begin within 7 days. During these hearings, voters must submit permitted documentation to prevent removal from the roll call. The 58 lakh names already deleted will not receive notices. Individuals in this category must submit Form 6, 7, or 8 with annexure 4 for fresh enrollment, subject to district administration approval. Those with logical discrepancies will likely receive hearing notices in the coming days.