2026 Bengal Election: 91 Lakh Names Deleted from Electoral Roll, Including 27 Lakh ‘Doubtful’ Voters—SC Says ‘No Problem, Can Vote Next Time’

“No eligible voter’s name will be removed,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said at a press conference in West Bengal on 10 March 2026.

The comment was made in reference to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state, after which nearly 64 lakh names were removed from the final electoral roll. An additional 60 lakh voters were placed ‘under adjudication’, meaning their eligibility was in abeyance pending a judicial review.

At midnight, 6-7 April 2026, the Election Commission of India (ECI) published the fourth and final Supplementary List for the Bengal electoral roll, a month after the adjudication process began. 27 lakh names, or 45% of the total doubtful voters, were removed, bringing the total tally of deletions up to 91 lakh.

7 April also marks the last day of nominations for the first phase of the Assembly election, scheduled for 23 April. The Supreme Court had earlier notified this as the last day for processing judicial reviews of electors voting during this phase. The last date for nomination and judicial review for the second phase is 9 April. Any voter still under review past these deadlines will not be allowed to vote in the upcoming election.

Challenging this decision, the Bengal government on 6 April 2026 urged a Bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Bagchi and Pancholi to defer freezing the electoral roll and permit interim inclusion of voters whose appeals remain pending. The court rejected the plea, stating that finalization of the rolls “cannot be stretched to the outcome of appeals before the appellate tribunals against rejections.”

It stressed that the burden of an expedited review process will burden the tribunals too much, clarifying that they would form their own procedure for disposing the cases, and affirmed that any genuine voters prevented from casting their ballot in the upcoming election will not be denied their right to vote indefinitely.

Deletion Figures, District-Level Data and Demographic Patterns

Before the SIR began in October 2025, West Bengal had approximately 7.66 crore registered voters. The draft rolls released in December 2025 saw around 58 lakh names removed. By the time the final list was published on 28 February 2026, the number of deletions had risen to around 63.66 lakh.

However, the February list also placed more than 60 lakh electors under adjudication due to “logical discrepancies” in their records. This is a new category of voters introduced in the ongoing SIR exercise, not seen in any revision before. These voters were to be verified by judicial officers appointed under Supreme Court supervision.

By 7 April 2026, following adjudication, 27,16,393 voters were found ineligible and deleted. Officials indicated that the total number of deletions stood at 90.83 lakh and could increase further once pending digital signatures were completed. With these removals, the total number of voters in West Bengal fell to 6.77 crore, down from 7.66 crore, representing a drop of 11.62% in the electorate.

District level data revealed uneven patterns.

Murshidabad recorded the highest number of voters under adjudication at 11 lakh, followed by Malda with 8.28 lakh, South 24 Parganas with 5.22 lakh, and North 24 Parganas with 5 lakh.

In percentage terms, the highest deletions were reported in Nadia at 77.86%, followed by Hooghly at 70.33%, Purba Bardhaman at 57.4%, North 24 Parganas at 55.08%, and Paschim Bardhaman at 53.72%. Kolkata North and Kolkata South also saw deletions of 28.97% and 27.31% respectively.

Minority dominated districts such as Malda, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur and South 24 Parganas recorded relatively lower deletion percentages but high absolute numbers. Murshidabad alone saw more than 4.5 lakh deletions, followed by North 24 Parganas with over 3.2 lakh and Malda with more than 2.3 lakh.

Reports have revealed that flagged voters and deletions disproportionately constitute minorities, specifically Muslims, in comparison to their population.

An investigation by Alt News – which extracted, structured and analysed voter data for Bhabanipur and Ballygunge constituencies – found that Muslims account for 51.8% and 76.1% of those marked ‘under adjudication’, respectively, while making up 21.9% and 54.3% of the populace.

A recent analysis by the Sabar Institute revealed that of the 2,826 names deleted from Nandigram constituency – from which BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari is contesting – “95.5% of those deleted are Muslims, despite being just 33.3% of the December 2025 ASDD (Absent/Shifted/Dead/Deleted) list and roughly 25% of the population.”

Several other reports have echoed similar findings.

See Also: ‘Wrongful Exclusions and Inclusions Can be Corrected After Polls’, SC Says on SIR Objections Ahead of 2026 Bengal Election, While Maintaining Bulk Form 6 Submissions ‘Not Unprecedented’

Supreme Court Position on SIR

The Supreme Court has played a central role in shaping the Special Intensive Revision.

After the TMC government moved the court against the SIR exercise in the state, the Court, on 20 February 2026, ordered deployment of judicial officers to adjudicate claims and objections, citing a “trust deficit” between authorities overseeing the revision.

On 10 March 2026, the Court directed the formation of 19 appellate tribunals headed by former High Court chief justices and judges to hear appeals against exclusions. The adjudication exercise is being conducted by 705 judicial officers.

However, as of 7 April 2026, the tribunals were yet to become fully operational.

During hearings on 6 April, 2026 senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the Bengal government, told the court that around 20 lakh voters had already been excluded and many appeals were pending. He requested that tribunals be directed to dispose of appeals by 15 April, 2026 and that voters awaiting decisions be provisionally included.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal supported the request, suggesting that tribunals be allowed to grant interim relief where a prima facie case existed, such as possession of valid identity documents.

Justice Bagchi rejected the request, stating that interim inclusion could not be allowed merely because voters appeared in earlier electoral rolls. The court observed that verification had already been conducted and that the process must be frozen at a certain point.

The court also declined to impose deadlines on tribunals, stating that appeals may take one to two months and should not be rushed. The Court left it to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to frame procedures for tribunal functioning.

The Bench also addressed unrest during the adjudication process. On 1 April 2026, judicial officers were held hostage in Malda district. The Supreme Court described the incident as a “well planned, calculated and deeply instigated” attempt to challenge judicial authority. It ordered a probe and directed security arrangements for officers.

Earlier, the court had rejected the government’s concerns over bulk filing of Form 6 applications (for voter inclusion) by the BJP, calling the practice commonplace. Even earlier, the SC had refrained from imposing a stay on the SIR process for being rushed or biased, calling the exercise a constitutional mandate of the ECI.

Political Contentions Surrounding the SIR

The Special Intensive Revision has triggered sharp political reactions.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the ECI of selectively conducting electoral revisions in opposition ruled states since the exercise was first announced. She described the SIR as hurried and politically motivated.

“If even one eligible voter is removed from the electoral rolls, we will ensure the fall of this BJP government,” she said during a protest rally in November 2025.

Banerjee also questioned the speed of the exercise, noting that the last intensive revision in 2002 took nearly two years, while the current exercise was completed within months.

She further alleged voter manipulation, writing to the CEC on 31 March 2026 claiming that BJP agents were sending thousands of fraudulent Form 6 applications seeking voter registration. The allegations added to concerns over voter roll integrity during the revision.

The ECI rejected political allegations and maintained that the revision was conducted according to constitutional norms.

CEC Gyanesh Kumar said the objective of the revision was to ensure a “pure” voter list. He stated that around 4–5% of electors could not map themselves to the 2002 rolls, while another 7–8% were incorrectly mapped.

“The aim is to ensure that those who are eligible to vote find their names in the rolls while names of ineligible people do not remain on the list,” he said during the 10 March 2026 press conference.

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