In a development that has sent shockwaves across West Bengal’s political landscape, the Election Commission has revealed that nearly 91 lakh names have been removed from the state’s electoral rolls following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The exercise, which began last November, resulted in the deletion of approximately 11.9% of the state’s total electorate, bringing the number of voters down from 7.66 crore to roughly 7.04 crore.

According to EC data, out of 60.06 lakh voters placed under the ‘under adjudication’ category, over 27.16 lakh were eventually found ineligible and struck off the final list. Minority-dominated districts like Murshidabad and Malda recorded the highest number of deletions, with Murshidabad alone seeing over 4.5 lakh names removed. Commission officials maintained that the process was conducted transparently by judicial officers under legal guidelines to ensure accountability.

As the state prepares for a high-stakes two-phase election on April 23 and April 29, the electoral rolls for the first phase (152 seats) were frozen on Monday midnight. No further inclusions are now possible for the first phase. The freeze for the second phase (142 seats) will take effect on April 9. All eyes are now on the Supreme Court, which is set to hear the ongoing SIR-related matter on April 13, as any further changes to the list will strictly depend on the apex court’s directives.