In a major shake-up of West Bengal’s electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has removed nearly 91 lakh names from the state’s voter list ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections. The deletions account for roughly 11–12% of the registered voters, marking one of the largest clean-up exercises in recent times.
The purge followed a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process launched in November 2025. The exercise aimed to eliminate duplicates, remove ineligible entries, and correct errors in the voter lists. By the end of February, around 63.66 lakh names had already been deleted after initial field verification.
To ensure fairness, over 60 lakh disputed cases were sent to judicial officers for review. Following their scrutiny, 27.16 lakh names were removed, while 32.68 lakh names were retained. A small number of cases are still awaiting formal clearance, so the final numbers may shift slightly.
District-level data show that Murshidabad and Malda recorded the highest number of deletions, reflecting concentrated corrections in certain areas. The ECI has “frozen” the voter rolls for the first phase of polling, meaning no new entries can be added unless directed by a court.
While election officials say the process was conducted transparently, the large-scale deletions have sparked concern among voters and political parties alike. Several petitions are pending in the Supreme Court, questioning whether some names were wrongly removed. Leaders have also raised worries about the impact on specific communities, adding a political layer to the controversy.
