91 lakh voters dropped from Bengal rolls after SIR; TMC alleges bias

Kolkata, April 8: Nearly 91 lakh voters' names have been deleted from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the completion of the SIR exercise in the State, according to the Election Commission figures, sharpening an already polarised campaign, and turning the SIR from a bureaucratic exercise into the defining political flashpoint ahead of the first phase of Assembly polls on April 23.

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.

The EC figures, which pushed the total deletion to over 90.88 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, showed that the proportion of removal of electors now remains at over 11.85 per cent.

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 46.22 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 4.66 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 41.38 per cent.

Significant deletions were also re-corded in the Bangladesh-bordering North 24 Parganas district, where over 3.26 lakh of the 6.91 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-adjudi-cation 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 66.08 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 BJР 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.

PTI