More than 58 lakh voters have been removed from West Bengal’s draft electoral roll for 2026, following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) carried out by the Election Commission of India. The deleted list has now been made available online by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, allowing citizens to check whether their names have been affected.
According to official sources, a total of 5,820,898 pre-existing voters were deleted from the draft list. The removals were carried out for multiple reasons, including death, relocation, duplication of entries, missing voters, and other administrative grounds.
The largest chunk of deletions was due to reported deaths, with 24,16,852 names removed on this basis. Another 19,88,076 voters were deleted after being marked as relocated, meaning they were found to have shifted to another constituency or state. The list also includes 12,20,038 voters categorised as “missing,” while 1,38,328 names were struck off due to duplication. An additional 57,604 voters were removed under miscellaneous reasons.
The Election Commission has clarified that the draft roll is not final and has urged affected voters to verify their status. Citizens who believe their names were wrongly deleted can file claims using Form 6, along with a declaration and supporting documents. The window for submitting claims and objections will remain open until January 15, 2026. After this process, the final electoral rolls will be published.
Election officials said the revision exercise is aimed at ensuring cleaner and more accurate voter lists ahead of upcoming elections. However, the large number of deletions is expected to trigger political scrutiny and public debate in the state, especially as parties gear up for the 2026 polls.
Voters have been advised to check the CEO West Bengal portal promptly to avoid last-minute issues during elections.
