West Bengal Draft Roll Deletes 5,820,898 Voter Names

The Election Commission of India published the draft electoral roll for West Bengal on Tuesday, following the first phase of a Special Intensive Revision exercise, resulting in the provisional deletion of 5,820,898 voter names from the state's list. This revision, conducted ahead of the 2026 assembly elections, has reduced the total number of valid electors to 70,816,630 from 76,637,529, with the process now entering a period for claims, objections, and hearings.

The deletions stem primarily from verification efforts between December 4 and December 11, where booth-level officers collected enumeration forms from over 70.8 million residents. Of the flagged entries, 2,416,852 were identified as deceased voters, accounting for about 3.15 percent of the total. Another significant portion, 3,265,000 names or roughly 4.26 percent, involved voters reported as shifted, absent, or untraceable at their registered addresses. Duplicates and multiple enrollments affected 138,328 individuals, or 0.18 percent, while additional categories included 1,988,076 permanent migrants and 1,220,038 missing voters, with 57,604 other cases.

Regional variations highlight disparities across the state. South...