The ECI has appointed retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta as the in-charge of electoral roll observers for the ongoing SIR in West Bengal, to “ensure that no eligible person is left out from enrolment and that no ineligible elector is included in the elector roll”. Representational file image.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Three weeks after the enumeration phase of the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) began for West Bengal’s electoral roll, about 27 lakh voters have been identified as “dead, duplicate, untraceable and shifted” till 12 p.m. on Friday (November 28, 2025), said sources in the office of the State’s Chief Electoral Officer said. This includes roughly 15,53,000 dead voters.
Before SIR began, as of October 27, 2025, West Bengal’s voters’ list officially comprised 7.6 crore electors.
Additionally, sources in the CEO’s office said, as of Friday’s noon, around 58,164 duplicate voters have also been found. Roughly 2.61 lakh voters have been found to be untraceable, while around 8.88 lakh voters have been identified as “shifted”.
The numbers of dead, duplicate, untraceable and shifted electors have been ascertained based on the successful distribution of 99.83% enumeration forms and the digitisation of around 87.91% forms across the State. Around 1.31 lakh forms are yet to be distributed as of today, according to sources.
Notably, only six days remain before the enumeration phase ends on December 4, and the window for the submission of enumeration forms closes for electors.
These figures assume significance with the chief Opposition in the State, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), drumming up a political storm over the removal of dead, duplicate electors, and alleged foreigners from the voters’ list ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections slated for 2026. The Leader of Opposition of West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari early claimed that nearly 1 crore “fake” voters are likely to be deleted from West Bengal’s electoral roll after SIR.
According to the SIR schedule released by the Election Commission of India, the draft electoral roll following the enumeration phase will be made public on December 9. Shortly after, sources said, an additional list will be published containing names of dead, duplicate, untraceable, and relocated voters, as well as the names of those electors whose enumeration forms were not submitted.
“Electors will be able to submit Forms 6, 7, and 8 only after the draft roll is published. For those who will apply online, the Election Commission has made the use of Aadhar-based e-sign mandatory,” CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal said on Friday.
Forms 6, 7, and 8 pertain to the inclusion of new voters, deletion of dead voters, and application for changing or correcting an elector’s details, respectively.
Appointment of ‘observers’
The Election Commission of India has appointed retired IAS officer Subrata Gupta as the in-charge of electoral roll observers for the ongoing SIR in West Bengal, to “ensure that no eligible person is left out from enrolment and that no ineligible elector is included in the elector roll”. Additionally, a delegation of 12 IAS officers has been appointed as electoral roll officers for 24 districts in the State “to oversee the key aspects of preparation/revision of electoral roll and to help District Electoral Officers/Electoral Registration Officers in taking timely corrective measures”.
The Election Commission has also directed the relocation of the office of the CEO on grounds of alleged security breaches following protests by sections of disgruntled booth-level officers. Sources said that the Kolkata Police Commissioner has been directed to ensure complete security of the existing and new office of the West Bengal CEO.
Published – November 29, 2025 02:35 am IST
