Saurabh Mukherjee
West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Tuesday (October 29) claimed that “no legitimate voter’s name will be deleted from the electoral roll,” as he detailed the state’s preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ lists.
Speaking after an all-party meeting at his office in Kolkata, Agarwal emphasised that the SIR process would be secure, transparent, and systematic, urging political parties and citizens not to panic.
“We will make such a voter list where 100 per cent of the voters’ names will be legitimate,” he said, adding that the state currently has 7,66,37,529 registered voters.
Explaining the process, Agarwal said that every applicant submitting an enumeration form would receive a unique QR code, which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would use for data entry and document verification.
“Each voter who submits an enumeration form will get a separate QR code and on that basis the BLO will enter his documents. So there should not be any panic,” he said.
He added that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had already provided detailed guidelines, while table-top and mapping exercises had been completed.
Addressing concerns about BLO safety, Agarwal said that law and order remained a state subject and that the government had been asked to provide adequate protection.
“The state will provide all possible security for the BLOs. Even then if any situation arises, we will take action accordingly,” he said.
On whether the revision could be completed within a month, he claimed: “Every booth has around 900 to 1,000 voters or 200–300 families. Almost all BLOs are local residents of that area. So they will easily reach all the families within a month.”
Agarwal declined to comment on political criticisms, saying, “ECI already said everything in their guidelines and the announcements.” He reiterated that the goal was to ensure a voter list with “100% legitimate voters’ names.”
Meanwhile, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) sharply criticised the exercise, calling it a “pre-exercise to implement CAA-NRC.”
The party alleged that the revision could be used to target vulnerable voters and claimed that a suicide had already taken place in connection with the process. State minister Firhad Hakim said the party would “continue protests if any genuine voter’s name was removed.”
The opposition, too, voiced differing concerns.
CPI(M) leader Samik Lahiri questioned whether officials could reach over seven crore voters within a month and urged that the SIR should be used to add genuine voters while removing fake or deceased ones through due process.
“SIR should include genuine voters and delete fake and dead names — that should be done through the exercise,” he said.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty, meanwhile, accused the Commission of lacking preparedness and questioned its authority to assess citizenship.
“Who gave the Commission the power to determine citizenship? Why was the 2002 voter list used as a base?” he asked, citing CPI(M) surveys that found thousands of dead or untraceable voters still on rolls in Jadavpur and Sonarpur Dakshin. The party claimed that in Jadavpur alone, nearly 50,000 such names existed across 347 booths.
BJP leader Sanjay Singh welcomed the revision but demanded that the Commission identify and delete alleged illegal entries.
“We welcomed the SIR process. We mentioned to ECI that, in Bengal, a huge number of Bangladeshi muslims already included in the voter list. Their names should be deleted from the list. We also mentioned that the commission should identify fake voters in different areas of the state,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, the Election Commission announced that the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision would be conducted in nine states and three Union Territories between November 4 and December 4, with the final voters’ list to be published on February 7, 2026. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that draft rolls would be released on December 9, followed by a claims and objections period from December 9, 2025, to January 8, 2026, and hearings and verifications up to January 31, 2026.
The nine states covered include Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, while the Union Territories include Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal will all go to the polls in 2026.
Kumar clarified that Assam, where Assembly polls are also due in 2026, would undergo a separate revision due to special provisions under the Citizenship Act.
“Under the Citizenship Act, there are separate provisions for citizenship in Assam. Under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the exercise of checking for citizenship is about to be completed,” he said.
Earlier this year, the EC announced the deletion of one lakh names from Bengal’s voter rolls, sparking anxiety among migrant workers’ families.
Officials said updates on the SIR process would be made public periodically and appealed to all parties and citizens to cooperate as the verification drive begins.
Speaking after an all-party meeting at his office in Kolkata, Agarwal emphasised that the SIR process would be secure, transparent, and systematic, urging political parties and citizens not to panic.
“We will make such a voter list where 100 per cent of the voters’ names will be legitimate,” he said, adding that the state currently has 7,66,37,529 registered voters.
Explaining the process, Agarwal said that every applicant submitting an enumeration form would receive a unique QR code, which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would use for data entry and document verification.
“Each voter who submits an enumeration form will get a separate QR code and on that basis the BLO will enter his documents. So there should not be any panic,” he said.
He added that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had already provided detailed guidelines, while table-top and mapping exercises had been completed.
Addressing concerns about BLO safety, Agarwal said that law and order remained a state subject and that the government had been asked to provide adequate protection.
“The state will provide all possible security for the BLOs. Even then if any situation arises, we will take action accordingly,” he said.
On whether the revision could be completed within a month, he claimed: “Every booth has around 900 to 1,000 voters or 200–300 families. Almost all BLOs are local residents of that area. So they will easily reach all the families within a month.”
Agarwal declined to comment on political criticisms, saying, “ECI already said everything in their guidelines and the announcements.” He reiterated that the goal was to ensure a voter list with “100% legitimate voters’ names.”
Meanwhile, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) sharply criticised the exercise, calling it a “pre-exercise to implement CAA-NRC.”
The party alleged that the revision could be used to target vulnerable voters and claimed that a suicide had already taken place in connection with the process. State minister Firhad Hakim said the party would “continue protests if any genuine voter’s name was removed.”
The opposition, too, voiced differing concerns.
CPI(M) leader Samik Lahiri questioned whether officials could reach over seven crore voters within a month and urged that the SIR should be used to add genuine voters while removing fake or deceased ones through due process.
“SIR should include genuine voters and delete fake and dead names — that should be done through the exercise,” he said.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty, meanwhile, accused the Commission of lacking preparedness and questioned its authority to assess citizenship.
“Who gave the Commission the power to determine citizenship? Why was the 2002 voter list used as a base?” he asked, citing CPI(M) surveys that found thousands of dead or untraceable voters still on rolls in Jadavpur and Sonarpur Dakshin. The party claimed that in Jadavpur alone, nearly 50,000 such names existed across 347 booths.
BJP leader Sanjay Singh welcomed the revision but demanded that the Commission identify and delete alleged illegal entries.
“We welcomed the SIR process. We mentioned to ECI that, in Bengal, a huge number of Bangladeshi muslims already included in the voter list. Their names should be deleted from the list. We also mentioned that the commission should identify fake voters in different areas of the state,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, the Election Commission announced that the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision would be conducted in nine states and three Union Territories between November 4 and December 4, with the final voters’ list to be published on February 7, 2026. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that draft rolls would be released on December 9, followed by a claims and objections period from December 9, 2025, to January 8, 2026, and hearings and verifications up to January 31, 2026.
The nine states covered include Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, while the Union Territories include Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal will all go to the polls in 2026.
Kumar clarified that Assam, where Assembly polls are also due in 2026, would undergo a separate revision due to special provisions under the Citizenship Act.
“Under the Citizenship Act, there are separate provisions for citizenship in Assam. Under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the exercise of checking for citizenship is about to be completed,” he said.
Earlier this year, the EC announced the deletion of one lakh names from Bengal’s voter rolls, sparking anxiety among migrant workers’ families.
Officials said updates on the SIR process would be made public periodically and appealed to all parties and citizens to cooperate as the verification drive begins.
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