In a major pre-poll development, the Election Commission-appointed tribunal has concluded the adjudication process for the ‘disputed’ voters list in West Bengal. Out of the 60.66 lakh names under review (SIR), the judicial officers have cleared 32.68 lakh individuals as ‘eligible’ voters. However, a staggering 27.16 lakh names have been identified as ‘ineligible’ and removed from the roll.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had previously raised alarms, claiming that nearly 1.20 crore names might be deleted from Bengal’s voter list. While the final tally hasn’t reached that mark, the total number of deletions has now hit approximately 91 lakh (90,83,345). According to the Commission’s data, Murshidabad district recorded the highest number of removals, with 4.55 lakh names declared invalid.

In terms of percentage, Nadia district faced the most severe blow, where over 2 lakh voter documents were found invalid. Districts like North and South 24 Parganas, East Burdwan, and Cooch Behar also saw significant purges. In Cooch Behar alone, over 45% of adjudicated applications were rejected. Those excluded still have a window to re-appeal to the tribunal, but as the first phase of voting nears, this massive cleanup of the electoral rolls has sparked intense political debate across the state.