An additional 9,42,970 voters are likely to be deleted from the final electoral roll in West Bengal, even as the Election Commission re-examines documents of three million more voters as part of its own intensified review in the state, senior poll panel officials said on Thursday.
EC officials familiar with the matter said that the number of voters who were found ineligible to be included in the final list after verification of documents had risen to 4,44,970.
“While around 4,98,000 voters did not attend the hearings, another 4,44,970 were found ineligible, taking the total number of possible deletions to around 9,42,970. This number is likely to rise further as scrutiny of documents continues till February 21,” a senior EC official said.
These potential deletions are certainly in addition to the 5.8 million names already removed from the draft list.
Meanwhile, just two days before the deadline for scrutiny and disposal of documents related to SIR in West Bengal expires, the Election Commission has sent documents of about three million voters for re-examination.
It should be noted that documents are re-examined by EROs and eros after careful observers and observers find errors in the documents. Among the documents, some were illegible, while others were unauthorized.
“These cases relate to cases where documents were found to be illegible or unauthorized documents were uploaded. In some cases, no documents were uploaded,” the official said.
The SIR was rolled out in the state on November 4, 2025 and the draft electoral roll was published on December 16 last year. About 5.8 million names of absentee, permanently mobile, deceased and duplicate voters were deleted from the draft list. Nearly 15.2 million more voters, whose names could not match the 2002 electoral roll and those with forms with logical discrepancies, were summoned to hearings that began on December 17. The hearing process ended on February 14.
“The electoral roll will be updated continuously as some voters may die and others may change their address. If a person’s name does not appear in the draft list, he can still apply after filling Form 6. If a person’s name is in the draft list, but does not appear in the final list, he can file a complaint with the district election officer and then to the CEO,” a senior official said.
The final electoral list is scheduled to be published on February 8, after which the IEC is likely to announce the dates for the Assembly elections in West Bengal.
“If district election officials seek more time to scrutinize and dispose of documents, we will request the Election Commission of India to extend the date of publication of the final list beyond February 28,” West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal said.
