The Election Commission of India published draft electoral rolls for West Bengal on Tuesday — deleting the names of more than 58 lakh voters. The Special Intensive Revision has affected several high-profile assembly seats and sharpened political fault lines ahead of the state Assembly elections. The stage has also been set for a contentious verification phase after the ruling TMC alleged bias in the deletions.
The updated voter list has now been uploaded onto the official website alongside booth-wise details for all deleted individuals. The data can be accessed via the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer website, the EC voter portal and the ECINET application. A separate portal allows voters to check whether their own or family members’ names have been removed and under which category.
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Over 58 lakh names deleted
According to official data, the names of 58,20,898 people have been excluded from the draft rolls. This has reduced the West Bengal electorate from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore following SIR. Commission sources told PTI that the bulk of deletions stemmed from what were termed “uncollectable SIR enumeration forms”. These included cases where voters were found to be deceased, had permanently shifted, were untraceable at their registered addresses, or were recorded as duplicate voters across constituencies.
A detailed breakup released earlier showed that 24,16,852 voters were marked as dead, 19,88,076 as permanently shifted, and 12,20,038 as missing or untraceable. Another 1.38 lakh voters were identified as having duplicate entries, while 1,83,328 names were flagged as so-called ‘ghost’ voters. Over 57,000 names were deleted under other discrepancies detected during enumeration.
How to check voter status? Step-by-step guide
Voters can now verify their details by using the official Election Commission website or the CEO portal. They have to enter their name or Elector’s Photo Identity Card (or EPIC) number to verify inclusion. The verification can also be done using the ECINET mobile application. Voters who do not wish to check online can also approach their BLOs. These officials have been provided with booth-wise draft rolls using a dedicated platform.
Checking voter status on CEO website:
- Log onto the CEO West Bengal website
- Click on the ‘Find your name in electoral roll’ option to be redirected
- Enter EPIC and state once you’re on the ‘electoral search’ website
- You can also search by personal details such as name and date of birth or using mobile phone number
What to do if your name is missing?
A senior commission official told PTI that the hearing process for affected voters would begin in about a week. Aggrieved voters can file claims in Form 6 along with a declaration form and supporting documents during the claims and objections window from December 16 to January 15 next year. Special Roll Observer for West Bengal, Subrata Gupta, also noted that around 30 lakh voters whose details could not be matched with the 2002 electoral rolls would be called for hearings to establish eligibility.
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