West Bengal: Over 7 Million Names May Be Cut From Voter List Ahead of Final List

Kolkata: West Bengal’s electoral rolls are going through a major cleanup drive that could see more than 7 million names removed before the final list is published later this month. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is carrying out the largest ever derive to ensure that the state's voter list is flawless.

The ECI is deeply working into a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) that aims at deleting duplicates, dead voters, people who moved away and other ineligible entries.

How many names are already deleted?

Ahead of the West Bengal assembly elections, the revision of the electoral roll triggered fresh political tensions after around 5.8 million names were removed from the draft list.

According to reports, the Election Commission had released the draft roll following the completion of the SIR.

The data showed that about 2.4 million voters were marked as deceased, 1.9 million as relocated, 1.2 million as missing and around 1.3 million as duplicates.

With the publication of the draft, the first phase of the SIR has ended. The commission said voters whose names were wrongly excluded can file objections within the stipulated period.

The final electoral roll is expected to be published by February 28, after which the election schedule may be announced. The last such intensive revision in the state was conducted in 2002.

Adding the current data, the total number of deletions has exceeded 6.8 million and this number is likely to exceed 7 million.  

Why are so many names being cut?

According to election officials, the main goal is to make sure the voter list is clean and accurate ahead of the Assembly elections later this year.

Names have been struck off for several reasons:

• People marked as dead or who have permanently moved out of the state.
• Duplicated entries, where one person may be registered more than once.
• Cases where voters failed to attend verification hearings.

Officials are also re-checking thousands of documents and have sent many cases back for further verification before making a final decision. About 55 lakh names are still under scrutiny and could be confirmed or removed as the process wraps up.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) party have strongly opposed the process, alleging a deliberate attempt by the centre and the commission to disenfranchise eligible voters, particularly women and warning of street protests if names are cut unjustly.