The final voter list prepared after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal is set to be published today (Saturday, 28th February) by the Election Commission. The SIR exercise, which faced many political hurdles created by the Mamata government in the state, will culminate with the release of the revised voter list.
The final voter list will be available on the websites of the Election Commission of India (eci.gov.in), the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal (ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in), and the ECI Net mobile application. The list will include the names of 7.08 crore (7,08,16,631) voters, which will reportedly be categorised as “deleted”, “under adjudication” or “approved”.
Names of over 60 lakh voters under review
According to the Indian Express, the names of over 60 lakh voters, whose names had earlier been cleared by the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), are being reviewed by the Supreme Court-appointed judicial officers. It is possible that some of these 60,06,675 voters, who form 8.5% of the electorate, might face deletion from the electoral roll.
The Supreme Court appointed 530 judicial officers from West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand to review the documents of these 60 lakh voters, whose names were sent for review after the Election Commission’s micro-observers flagged discrepancies in their documents. The Indian Express stated that most of these under-review voters are from the Muslim-dominated areas of the Murshidabad district (11 lakh), Malda (8.28 lakh), South 24 Parganas (5.22 lakh), North 24 Parganas (5 lakh), Jhargram (6,682), and Kalimpong (6,790).
The menace of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in West Bengal
Notably, these are the districts where significant populations of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants have settled over the years. After the Election Commission announced last year that it would be conducting the SIR exercise in 12 states, including West Bengal, several videos emerged on social media, showing large queues of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in several areas of the state, carrying luggage, moving towards the Indo-Bangladesh border on foot. Most of these Bangladeshi illegal immigrants had been living in the North 24 Parganas district of the state. Many of these illegal immigrants had been living in West Bengal for over 10 years and had been employed in brick kilns and rental bike and taxi services.
Around 58 lakh voters were removed from the draft rolls
The draft voter list was published by the Election Commission on December 16, 2025. Around 58 lakh voters were removed from the draft rolls on various accounts, including death, migration, and failure to submit enumeration forms. Out of these, 24 lakh voters were found deceased, about 19 lakh had relocated, 12 lakh were missing, and 1.3 lakh votes were found duplicate. Before the SIR exercise, the total number of voters in the state stood at 7,66,37,529.
The SIR exercise, under the second phase, in West Bengal commenced on November 1, 2025, following the first phase of SIR in Bihar, which faced fierce opposition by the INDIA bloc parties. The door-to-door verification of voters in West Bengal began on November 4, 2025 and concluded on December 11, 2025. The draft electoral roll was published on December 16, 2025, and till January 15, 2026, the claims and objections regarding the draft rolls were received. Till February 7, 2026, the EROs conducted hearings and disposed of claims and objections. On the Supreme Court’s direction, the period for hearings and checks was extended, and the date for the publication of the final electoral roll, which was earlier February 14, 2026, was fixed at February 28, 2026.
Notably, despite the vehement opposition by various opposition parties and the TMC government in West Bengal, the Supreme Court adopted a stringent approach and said that it would not allow any obstacles to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
