Nearly 91 lakh names deleted from Bengal electoral rolls after judicial scrutiny under SIR

Kolkata (PTI): Nearly 91 lakh voters were deleted from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the completion of the adjudication process of the SIR exercise in the state, Election Commission data revealed, opening up potential for a significant impact in the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the poll body of undertaking “targeted deletions of Matua, Rajbanshi and minority community members” of the state, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari maintained that “Bangladeshi Muslims have no place in West Bengal”.

The EC is yet to officially announce the finally altered voter base for the state after the roll revision process.

Available figures, however, showed that the proportion of total deletion at this stage, based on the 7.66 crore elector base identified in October 2025, remains at over 11.85 per cent.

The final deletion figure, since the beginning of the SIR process, stood at a little over 90.83 lakh.

Over 27.16 lakh of 60.06 lakh 'under adjudication' voters have been deleted during the now-concluded scrutiny by judicial officers, the EC data said.

In terms of ratio, the figure revealed that some 45.22 per cent of the cases under judicial scrutiny following the publication of the post-SIR electoral rolls on February 28 were deleted.

More than 32.68 lakh of those in the 'under adjudication' category have been retained and included in the final rolls.

The EC figures showed that maximum deletions were recorded in the Muslim-majority district of Murshidabad, where over 4.55 lakh of the 11.01 lakh names under judicial scrutiny were removed from the electoral rolls, taking the under-adjudication deletion figure in the district to around 41.33 per cent.

Significant deletions were also recorded in the Bangladesh-bordering North 24 Parganas district, where over 3.25 lakh of the 5.91 lakh under-scrutiny electors were found not eligible to vote, and in Malda, where over 2.39 lakh of the 8.28 lakh under judicial review voters were deleted.

The deletion figures following adjudication in South 24 Parganas district stood at nearly 2.23 lakh, in Purba Bardhaman district at 2.09 lakhs and in Nadia at 2.98 lakhs, the EC data said.

In terms of percentage, post-adjudication deletions in Nadia and North 24 Parganas – districts which are perceptively dominated by the Hindu refugee Matua community members – were at a whopping 77.86 per cent and 55.08 per cent respectively.

In Cooch Behar district, the primary home to Rajbanshi SC community in North Bengal, over 1.2 lakh names accounting for over 50 per cent of the 2.38 lakh electors under adjudication, were deleted from the final rolls.

Over 28,000 voters were deleted in Kolkata South, which comprises Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Bhabanipur seat, pegging the deletion percentage during adjudications at 36.19.

Some 39,000 under-scrutiny voters in Kolkata North were found not eligible to vote, pinning the deletion percentage there at nearly 64.

Lashing out at the EC and the BJP following the publication of the list, the CM, addressing a rally at Chakdaha in Nadia district, said the TMC will stand by those whose names were excluded from the voter rolls, providing them with legal support.

“Why this discrimination? You are excluding Matuas, Rajbanshis and minorities. Do you think that people do not understand this?” the CM said.

She also claimed that in districts with significant minority population such as Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur, names were “picked and removed like lice” from the electoral rolls.

Banerjee claimed that following her intervention in the Supreme Court, around 32 lakh names out of nearly 60 lakh cases 'under adjudication’ had been restored.

Describing the upcoming assembly polls as a battle to protect people’s identity and democratic rights, the TMC supremo urged voters to respond through the ballot.

“This election is a fight to save your democracy, language and respect so that no one can ever call you a foreigner,” she said.

Accusing Banerjee of being “responsible for forcing the top court to order judicial intervention in scrutinising SIR names”, Suvendu Adhikari said, “A significant portion of names deleted from the rolls are voters who are dead. The CM wants dead voters to vote and that’s why she is raising objections”.

Insisting that Bengal will not offer shelter to Bangladeshi Muslims, Adhikari stated that “the rolls must be purified once and for all”.

“This is an old tactic of Mamata Banerjee to pave the way for law and order disturbance and anarchy in the run-up to the polls. She is trying to confuse people by calling SIR, which is a tried and tested roll clean-up exercise, as NRC. People will resist and will not allow her to succeed in this endeavour,” he said.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge alleged, “BJP deletes legitimate voters from electoral rolls as a means to stay in power. It has done it not just in Bengal but across the country”.

According to official data released on February 28, 63.66 lakh names, around 8.3 per cent of the electorate, were deleted since the SIR exercise began in November last year, reducing the voter base from 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.

Voters, whose names were deleted from the final rolls, can move the tribunals, set up under Supreme Court orders, but it is still not clear if electors found eligible by the tribunal will be able to vote in the upcoming polls.