Around 12 lakh voter claims have been rejected out of 32 lakh cases reviewed so far in West Bengal’s ongoing electoral roll revision, an Election Commission (EC) official said on Wednesday, as the large-scale adjudication process continues to raise concerns on the ground.
Judicial officers tasked with examining the cases have cleared just over half of the nearly 60 lakh pending claims. A significant portion—about 40% of applicants flagged under “logical discrepancy” and “unmapped” categories—failed to qualify for inclusion in the rolls.
Despite the high rejection rate, officials indicated that nearly 28 lakh cases may still see favourable outcomes, potentially softening the overall trend as the process progresses.
Voter list numbers fluctuate
The revision exercise has led to sharp swings in voter numbers:
- Pre-revision electorate: ~7.6 crore
- Draft rolls (December): 58 lakh names excluded (absent, shifted, deceased, duplicates)
- Final rolls (Feb 28): Additional 5.5 lakh removed; 60 lakh kept under adjudication
- Current count: ~6.4–6.5 crore voters
The first supplementary list, released late Monday night, restored about 10 lakh names, taking the electorate to roughly 6.5 crore.
However, officials noted a gap between processed and published cases. While 29 lakh cases had been disposed of, only 10 lakh names with verified digital signatures were included in the first supplementary list.
More lists expected
The EC is set to release:
- Second supplementary list: March 27
- Third supplementary list: April 3
Officials said the High Court is expected to send additional digitally signed approvals after March 27, following which lists can be published within hours.
The EC has also requested permission to publish updates daily, though this proposal is still under consideration.
Technical glitch adds to confusion
The rollout of the first supplementary list triggered confusion after a technical glitch briefly showed all voters as either “under adjudication” or “deleted” on the EC website.
Ground reports flag disenfranchisement concerns
Several rural areas have reported large-scale exclusions:
- Sujapur: 1.3 lakh out of 2.5 lakh voters were under adjudication
- Bahadurpur: Residents claim most flagged names were deleted
- Murshidabad (Aurangabad): Only 2 of 7 family members reinstated in one case
- Pursurah (Khanakul constituency): 194 out of 254 adjudicated voters deleted
Residents have questioned the logic behind exclusions despite submitting documentation.
“My name was in the rolls since 2002… I submitted all documents, yet it has been deleted,” said one Sujapur resident.
System integration in focus
Sources said the EC has deployed new software linking judicial officers’ dashboards with ECINET, the official electoral roll management portal, to streamline the adjudication and publishing process.
Uncertainty persists
With lakhs of cases still pending and further lists awaited, uncertainty remains over the final shape of West Bengal’s voter rolls. While officials suggest that upcoming inclusions could rebalance the numbers, concerns over transparency, consistency, and potential disenfranchisement continue to dominate the discourse.
