West Bengal's voter count is set to decrease by at least 68 lakh, or nearly 9 per cent, compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with the final electoral roll scheduled to be published on February 28, The Times of India reported.
The draft list, released on December 16 after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), showed around 7.1 crore electors. More than 58 lakh ASD (absent, shifted, dead, or duplicate) voters were removed at that stage. Election Commission (EC) sources told The Times of India that at least 10.4 lakh more names are likely to be deleted before the final roll is issued.
Hearings, discrepancies, and likely deletions
Around 1.5 crore voters were flagged in the draft roll for logical discrepancies or marked as unmapped. They were asked to attend in-person hearings. Of these, 3.6 lakh voters could not be located by Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
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Their names will be removed directly. Another 5.2 lakh voters received notices but did not appear before Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) or Assistant EROs by the deadline. Their names will also be excluded, as per TOI. After document verification, an additional 1.6 lakh names were marked 'ineligible'.
Fresh applications and timeline
Between December 16 and January 19, the Election Commission received 7.4 lakh Form 6 and 6A applications for new enrolments. Around 42,501 Form 7 submissions were filed for deletion due to death or change of address. More than 3.4 lakh Form 8 applications were submitted for corrections in voter ID details, TOI reported.
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Officials said all applications will be processed before the final roll is published.
As per the EC timetable, scrutiny of documents must be completed by February 21. Disposal of cases will also conclude by that date. Polling station rationalisation is to be finished by February 25, ahead of the final publication on February 28.
