ECI estimates over 10 lakh names to be deleted from Bengal voters’ list after SIR

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has cast a long and consequential shadow over West Bengal’s electoral landscape, estimating that more than ten lakh names may be struck off the state’s voters’ list once the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) reaches its conclusion.

According to an official familiar with the workings of the chief electoral officer’s (CEO) office in Kolkata, this sweeping estimate emerges from the painstaking scrutiny of enumeration forms gathered by booth-level officials — the BOs and BLOs — and fed into the BLO App, the digital backbone of the revision exercise.

The official noted that the impending deletions span several categories: the deceased, duplicate entries that appear in more than one place, those who have permanently migrated out of West Bengal, and voters who have become untraceable.

“The largest share — close to 6.5 lakh — will be deletions of voters who are no longer alive,” the insider remarked, underscoring the scale of the quiet demographic churn revealed through the revision.

The cleansing of the rolls is a work still in motion. The final count of deletions will crystallise only after all enumeration forms are collected, verified, and uploaded, following which the draft electoral rolls will be unveiled on 9 December.

On Monday, West Bengal CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal issued a gentle yet firm appeal to voters who have not yet submitted their filled enumeration forms: do so without delay.

He reiterated that 4 December is the final cut-off for submission — a deadline that will remain non-negotiable. Failure to submit, he cautioned, will result in automatic deletion from the voters’ list, a consequence built into the very design of the SIR.

Amid the administrative bustle, a sombre note lingers. Reports have surfaced of the deaths of three booth-level officers in the state, allegedly linked to the punishing workload of the revision exercise. Agarwal acknowledged these losses, saying the ECI had sought and received detailed accounts from the district magistrates, who serve concurrently as district electoral officers.

In a heartfelt tribute, Agarwal praised the relentless dedication of the BLOs.

“In this entire revision exercise, the BLOs are the true heroes,” he said, honouring the quiet labour of thousands who fan out across the state, door to door, stitching together the vast and intricate fabric of India’s democracy.

With IANS inputs