66 lakh names likely to deleted in post-SIR Bengal electoral rolls, 60 lakh under adjudication

KOLKATA: (Feb 28) The Election Commission on Saturday published West Bengal's post-SIR electoral rolls, showing that nearly 66 lakh names are likely to be deleted since the exercise began in November last year while another 60 lakh have been kept 'under adjudication', in a sweeping churn of the voter list ahead of the assembly polls due in April.

The phased publication of the final but incomplete rolls marked the culmination of a 116-day statewide exercise that began on November 4, when booth-level officers started distributing enumeration forms. The draft rolls published on December 16 had already pared down the electorate from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore, deleting over 58 lakh names on grounds of death, migration, duplication and untraceability.

With nearly eight lakh additional deletions recorded after hearings and scrutiny, the total number of SIR-linked omissions has now climbed to around 66 lakh, according to senior officials.