West Bengal's Voter Revision: Over 58 Lakh Names Flagged for Exclusion

Kolkata's Voter List Update

The initial phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal is set to conclude on Tuesday, with over 58.08 lakh individuals identified as potentially excludable for various reasons.

In addition to West Bengal, draft voter lists will also be released today for Goa, Rajasthan, and the union territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.

Among the 58.08 lakh voters flagged in West Bengal, 24.18 lakh are deceased, while approximately 20 lakh have moved permanently to different locations.

Around 12 lakh voters are untraceable, and there are 1.37 lakh duplicate entries, including those excluded for other reasons.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has also flagged about 1.60 crore voters due to unusual family-tree data identified through 'progeny mapping.'

This first category includes voters who, despite being over 45 years old, have opted for 'progeny mapping' instead of 'self-mapping' to retain their names on the voter list.

The last SIR in West Bengal occurred in 2002, meaning those who are now 45 or older should have registered as voters back then, raising questions about their current reliance on 'progeny mapping.'

Self-mapping refers to voters who appear in both the current list and the one from 2002, while progeny-mapping voters have their parents' names listed instead.

Another group with unusual family-tree data includes voters whose fathers were as young as 15 when they became parents. One case even shows a voter whose father had two children at just five years old.

Additionally, some voters have parents with identical names, and others have grandfathers who were only 40 or younger when they became grandfathers, with initial estimates suggesting around 3.50 lakh such cases.

These cases will be reviewed during the second stage of the revision process, where claims and objections will be addressed following the draft list publication.

The ECI has emphasized that not all voters listed in the draft will be exempt from attending hearings regarding their data.

The first stage of the SIR, which began on November 4, will conclude with the release of draft voter lists for the three states and two union territories on Tuesday.

The subsequent phase will involve filing claims and objections, issuing notices, and verifying enumeration forms, all managed by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).

The final voter list is scheduled for publication on February 14, 2026.

Following the finalization of the voter list, the ECI will announce the dates for the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal.