4 min readKolkataFeb 28, 2026 08:50 PM IST
After a four-month exercise that saw the Election Commission roll out a series of unprecedented steps specific to the state, and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee personally challenging the process in the Supreme Court, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal concluded Saturday with an 8% (61 lakh) net decrease in the number of electors and another nearly 8% (60 lakh) names pending adjudication.
The final electoral roll published on Saturday had 7.04 crore electors, including the names of 60.06 lakh electors who have been flagged for review by Supreme Court-appointed judicial officers. Until their names are cleared and published in supplementary lists, these 60 lakh electors will not be able to cast their votes. The final roll includes 3,60,22,642 male electors, 3,44,35,260 female electors and 1,382 electors of the third gender.
When the SIR started on October 27 last year, West Bengal had 7.66 crore electors, which were reduced to 7.08 crore when the draft list was published in December. The remaining 58 lakh names were deleted after the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) marked them as deceased, shifted/absent or multiple enrolments.
West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal told a press conference here Saturday evening that a total of 63,66,952 electors had been deleted, of which 58.20 lakh were deleted in the draft stage and another 5.46 lakh in the final list. Meanwhile, 1,82,036 electors were added under Form 6 and 6A, which is for new enrolments, and 6,671 electors were added to the list under Form 8, which is the form for shifting and correction cases.
The CEO also said that 60,06,675 electors, who have been included in the final roll, have been marked as under adjudication.
“There are some errors or mistakes (that) happened during the whole SIR process but that was very negligible in terms of this huge process,” he said.
Chief electoral officer, West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, addresses a press conference, in Kolkata on Saturday. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
“We have some definite cases of irregularities reported so far. We will take stern action on such cases,” he said.
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On the adjudication cases which are pending with the judicial officers, Agarwal said, “Those cases are not in our jurisdiction now. These cases are being reviewed by 501 judicial officers and we are hoping those cases will be disposed of very soon.”
Far from a routine revision of electoral rolls, the SIR in West Bengal, in a first, saw the Election Commission deploy thousands of Central government employees as micro-observers to review the decisions taken by the state government officers who are the statutory authority for maintaining rolls, the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant EROs (AEROs). After that, on the orders of the Supreme Court, around 500 judicial officers from Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha have been tasked with deciding whether 60 lakh registered electors who were flagged by the micro-observers, but cleared by the EROs, should be restored to the rolls or deleted.
As a result, the final electoral roll is not final in West Bengal as the court has ordered the supplementary lists that are expected in the coming weeks to be treated as part of it. With the EC expected to announce Assembly elections soon, those not cleared by the judicial officers in time may lose their right to vote in these polls.
An EC source said: “Final electoral rolls after West Bengal SIR today successfully found 61 lakh doubtful cases. These cases have been sent for adjudication. Only approved cases can be added by way of a supplementary list later.”
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Meanwhile, speaking about the law and order situation in the state, CEO Agarwal said: “We have already deployed 240 companies of CAPF and another 240 companies of CAPF will come before March 10. They will assist state police to maintain law and order situation in the state. Once the election is announced, then law and order will be under Election Commission purview but until then, this is under state administration jurisdiction and we are sure the state will maintain that properly.”
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