West Bengal’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise has reached a critical milestone, with officials confirming that digitisation of nearly all enumeration forms—99.53 per cent—has been completed.
Simultaneously, the process has identified more than 57 lakh voters who may be removed from the rolls on various grounds.
The Election Commission-appointed deadline for finalising the digitisation work is the evening of December 11, after which the draft electoral roll is scheduled to be released on December 16.
Sources within the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal revealed that out of the 57 lakh flagged entries:
Over 24 lakh are deceased voters
Above 20 lakh have been listed as “shifted”
Around 11 lakh individuals could not be traced
The remainder fall under categories such as duplication of names or other disqualifying issues
In a parallel development, the CEO’s office has issued show-cause notices to four electoral officers for violating Election Commission of India (ECI) protocols during the revision drive. Those charged include two Booth Level Officers (BLOs), one Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), and one Assistant ERO—all posted in the Baruipur (Purba) Assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas.
The draft roll’s publication on December 16 will mark the end of the first phase of the three-tier SIR process. Once objections and claims are addressed in the second phase, the final voters’ list is expected to be published on February 14. The Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule for the upcoming Assembly elections shortly after.
Meanwhile, CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal is set to meet on Wednesday with the five additional special roll observers appointed by the ECI last week. Each of these observers will oversee one of the state’s organisational divisions, enhancing monitoring during this large-scale revision.
