‘List frozen’: Nearly 9.1 million voters removed from Bengal rolls after SIR

New Delhi: The names of nearly 91 lakh people have been deleted from West Bengal’s electoral rolls following the Special Intensified Revision (SIR) exercise, according to data released by the Election Commission.The polling panel is yet to announce the final size of the revised electorate after completing the process.According to official data released on February 28, about 6.366 million voters (about 8.3% of the electorate) have been deleted since the launch of SIR in November last year. This reduced the voter base from nearly Rs 766 crore to just over Rs 704 crore.The revised Rs 704-crore figure includes over 60.06 lakh voters who have been placed in the “under-adjudication” category. Among them, more than 2.716 million voters were later deleted after judicial review, and more than 3.268 million voters were retained and included in the final rolls.Overall, the total number of deletions since the start of the SIR process was approximately 9.083 million, EC data showed.“The revision was carried out in a phased and transparent manner. The data from each region is now in the public domain to ensure full accountability,” a senior European Commission official said.The official said that of the 6.006 million voters who were adjudicated, data has been released for 5.984 million voters, while another 22,163 cases have been resolved but are awaiting electronic signatures.“Minor changes in deletion and inclusion of data may occur once pending formalities, including electronic signatures, are completed,” the official said.The official added that the entire process was carried out as per the laid down guidelines.“Any further inclusion at this stage will be subject to legal provisions and instructions, if any, from the competent authorities,” the official said.Meanwhile, with the release of the final supplementary list, the electoral rolls for the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections have been frozen from Monday midnight as per norms.Of the total 294 seats, 152 constituencies in the first phase will go to polls on April 23, while the remaining 142 seats will go to polls on April 29. The second phase of the electoral roll will be frozen on April 9.“There will be no further inclusion in the electoral roll at this stage. After the last date for nominations in the first phase, the list will be frozen as per the law,” a senior Election Commission official told PTI.“Any change to this will depend entirely on new directions from the Supreme Court, if any,” he said.The Supreme Court is currently hearing an SIR case related to West Bengal and is scheduled to hear the case again on April 13.(Using input from PTI)