Bengal SIR: CEO tells BLOs to re-verify forms, delete dead, absent voters by 11 Dec

West Bengal chief electoral officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal has instructed booth-level officers (BLOs) engaged in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to undertake a fresh round of verification and ensure that all deceased, absent or duplicate voters are removed before the now-extended phase one deadline of 11 December.

The extension — from the earlier cut-off of 4 December — comes amid growing turbulence around the SIR exercise ahead of Assembly elections in the first quarter of 2026.

BLOs across several districts have complained of impossible workloads, shifting targets and long hours, while Opposition parties allege that the drive is being deployed selectively to reshape voter lists in politically sensitive areas. Technical issues on ERO-Net, confusion over documentation norms and inconsistent district-level directives have compounded frustrations on the ground.

In his latest directive, Agarwal urged BLOs to exercise “utmost care” when uploading SIR data. “You must ensure that every single dead, absent or duplicate voter’s name is deleted,” he said, stressing that the Election Commission must protect the integrity of the rolls by retaining every eligible voter and removing every ineligible entry. “There should not be any mistake, inadvertently or otherwise.”

He also warned that any “intentional mistake” could lead to legal consequences — language that BLO unions say exemplifies the coercive atmosphere in which the SIR is being conducted. These groups argue that frontline staff are being scapegoated for systemic lapses, including outdated base data, missing household information and digital tools prone to crashing.

A senior official in the CEO’s office said that only seven polling stations now report having no dead or shifted voters in the past year — a drastic reduction from the 2,208 booths that initially claimed this, and the 480 reported just two days earlier. The sudden revision followed instructions from the CEO’s office to “thoroughly re-check” all enumerations before submitting final numbers.

Agarwal also reminded officers that they are on deputation to the Election Commission and responsible for “crucial verification work”, while briefly praising “those BLOs who have done a commendable job”.

Not addressed in his message, however, were mounting reports from the BLO Oikyo Manch and other staff groups alleging that the intense SIR workload has contributed to several deaths — including what unions describe as at least two suspected suicides.

In one case, a BLO in north Bengal was found dead after reportedly expressing despair over unrelenting pressure and repeated re-verification orders. Another schoolteacher assigned SIR duties in south Bengal is alleged to have died by suicide days after colleagues said he had been reprimanded for delays linked to technical faults. Local administrators have not publicly confirmed these accounts, but the incidents have sparked anger among BLOs who say the emotional and physical toll of the revision drive is being ignored.

Separately, unions maintain that four BLOs have died in the past month, whether through sudden medical emergencies or stress-related collapse, and have demanded compensation for families and formal recognition of SIR-linked occupational risks.

A deputy CEO said district election officers have been asked to submit detailed reports on the alleged deaths and verify causes, but the Election Commission has not released any findings. Meanwhile, controversy around Bengal’s SIR exercise continues to widen, with staff welfare, data integrity and political neutrality all under scrutiny.

With PTI inputs