After the completion of the judicial adjudication process for voters in West Bengal, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has reported that around 91 lakh voters have been deleted from the state’s electoral rolls. The final figure may see a slight increase as the ECI is yet to complete e-signatures for a small percentage of cases referred for adjudication.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal, out of 60,06,675 cases referred for adjudication, the process has been finalized for 59,84,512 cases, with judicial officers’ e-signatures affixed. Among these, 27,16,393 voters have been marked as “excludable” and subsequently deleted by the judicial officers, bringing the total number of deleted voters in West Bengal to 90,83,345.
Prior to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) notification in November last year, West Bengal had 7,66,37,529 voters. Subsequent revisions led to the deletion of 63,66,952 names in the final voters’ list published on February 28. The ongoing adjudication process has identified 27,16,393 cases for deletion, with a possibility of more names being added to the deletion list upon completion of e-signatures for all cases.
Voters whose names are excluded in the adjudication process have the option to appeal for remission at any of the 19 Appellate Tribunals established for this purpose. Notably, the highest number of deletions were recorded in Murshidabad district, a minority-dominated area, with 4,55,137 names removed, followed by North 24 Parganas at 3,25,666, and Malda with 2,39,375 deletions.
The upcoming two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal are scheduled for April 23 and April 29, with results expected on May 4.
