People wait in queues at a centre during hearings under the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, in Balurghat, Dakshin Dinajpur district, West Bengal, on January 20, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Election Commission (EC) of India said many instances of “logical discrepancies” found in the electoral roll of West Bengal defies science.
Two electors were found with more than 200 children, seven with more than a 100 children, 10 with more than 50 children while another 10 with more than 40.
“Some electors are linked with unusually high numbers of children… Many such instances are scientifically impossible to entertain as valid mapping,” the EC states in an affidavit to the Supreme Court on the conduct of the West Bengal Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
‘Mapping’ is the technical term being used by the EC to link an elector’s lineage with the 2002 roll. The EC said it has decided that cases in which six or more have mapped themselves to one person merited “greater scrutiny as regards validity of linkage”.
The EC affidavit shows that 4,59,054 instances have been found with electors having more than five children. The number of electors with more than six children are 2,06,056 in West Bengal.
“In 2019-2021, as per the NFHS-5 survey, the average household size in India is 4.4. This denotes that on an average, each family consists of two-three children. However, in some cases, the number of electors linked to one parent is more than 50,” the EC, represented by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi and advocate Eklavya Dwivedi, noted.
A 50-year gap between parents and children have also been flagged as a logical discrepancy. The EC reasoned that the fertility rate for women becomes negligible after 45 years of age.
The EC vehemently objected to criticism by petitioners that “logical discrepancies” was just another new category found to disenfranchise electors.
“Discovery of a logical discrepancy merely leads to issuance of notice for the purposes of verification. The notices will have to clarify the discrepancy and/or produce necessary documents to the satisfaction of the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).
The EC denied “field reports” claimed by petitioners, including Trinamool Congress party leaders such as Dola Sen, that affected voters were women electors and minorities and that 90% of the cases were relatable to “failure of the algorithm”.
The affidavit detailed that draft rolls published on December 16, 2025 saw the exclusion of 58 lakh voters on account of their absence, death, permanent shifting of ordinary residence and duplication of entries. The EC said these exclusions ought not be considered as “deletions”.
The poll body said “non-inclusion” in the draft roll was preceded by house-to-house survey. Those excluded would be given an opportunity of hearings. There were no “centralised software-based deletions from the electoral roll”.
The SIR was conducted with the aid of 80681 BLOs, 7000+ AEROs, 294 EROs and 4000+ micro-observers in West Bengal. The notice phase had started on December 16, 2025 and would continue till February 7, 2026.
“The linkage with previous SIR electoral rolls is done manually to ensure that all electors having linkage with the previous SIR electoral rolls are segregated for inclusion in the final electoral roll. Those who cannot be linked are issued notices. Upon issuance of notice, in case the elector has been erroneously left out, he or she can furnish the extract of linkage with the previous electoral roll, and in that event, his or her name is bound to be included in the final electoral roll,” the EC clarified.
The EC underscored that only mappings found to be incorrect or suffering from grave irregularities and not linked to electoral roll of 2002 would be scrutinised.
The EC further clarified that WhatsApping instructions or conveying them through video-conferencing was undeniably a speedy means of communication.
“Nothing showing that instructions issued through digital mode are in conflict with SIR,” the EC said, countering submissions that such practices dented transparency. The EC strongly objected to the presence of political parties’ Booth Level Agents (BLAs) at the verification hearings before the BLAs.
“Hearings are quasi-judicial and only for the persons concerned. Presence of BLAs in the hearings would be obstructive and the hearing process would be delayed unnecessarily. There are six national parties and two State parties in West Bengal… Presence of eight BLAs in the hearing between the ERO and the prospective elector would turn chaotic, considering the charged atmosphere,” the EC reasoned.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case on January 21.
Published – January 21, 2026 01:28 pm IST
