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5.8 Million Names Removed from Draft Voter List in Bengal

Story By - NextGen Gpost 2025-12-16 Voter Verification, Missing Voters 146

Voter Verification, Missing Voters

Key Highlights:

  • On Tuesday, 16 December 2025, the Election Commission of India (ECI) published names removed from West Bengal’s draft voter list for the year 2026 after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). 
  • More than 58 lakhs (5.8 million) names were removed from the 2026 draft voter list because of missing, death, relocation, duplication, and other reasons. 
  • The final voter’s list was released on February 14, 2026, and this focus transferred to the next phase of hearings. The last date to submit claims is January 15, 2026.

What is the SIR?

SIR stands for Special Intensive Revision. It’s controlled by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to make sure that all eligible Indian people are listed in the Electoral Roll (ER) and remove ineligible voters from the list. Their main aim is that the voter list is up-to-date.


Group-Wise Breakdown of Removed Voters

As per the data released by the ECI, the overall numbers are:

Category

Total No. of People

Dead

2,416,852

Relocated

1,988,076

Missing

1,220,038

Duplicate Entries

138,328

Other Reasons

57,604

Total Removal

5,820,898


The Step-by-Step Process of How Removal Happens 

Here’s a complete process of how ECI removed the people's names from the voter list in West Bengal.

  • BLOs (Booth Level Officers) visited homes and filled out digital/paper forms for each voter. These forms are uploaded and checked.
  • The officers compare forms from previous voter rolls, death records, migration data, duplicate data entries, and more.
  • In case the form is not returned or the individual cannot be found after continual checks, then that entry can be marked as invalid and then removed their data from the list. (In West Bengal, 58 lakhs of SIR forms were marked as invalid). 

Is the Draft Voter List Final

No. The draft voter list is not final. In case your name is not visible on the draft voter list, you can check the details on the ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in or the voters.eci.gov.in.