Bengal's two most populous districts — North and South 24-Parganas — are posing to be a major headache for the administration as well as Election Commission of India even before the start of the special intensive revision (SIR) in the state.
Only 45 per cent of voters in North 24-Parganas and 55 per cent in South 24-Parganas have been found to have links with the 2002 electoral rolls.
The figure was revealed during the mapping of electoral rolls of 2002 and 2025. The mapping started in mid-September as the first step for the upcoming SIR ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.
“The data of the entire state is being compiled and it is expected to be ready within a day or two. But the trend emerging from North and South 24-Parganas is extraordinary. In North 24-Parganas, only 45 per cent of the total electorate have links with the 2002 electoral rolls. The figure is 55 per cent in South 24-Parganas,” said a source in the poll panel.
Establishing a link of existing voters with the 2002 electoral rolls — where either a person's name figures on the rolls or his/her direct relation does — is vital for the SIR process.
Those with names with the 2002 electoral rolls would not be required to submit fresh documents to retain their names in the electoral rolls.
Their children would also be able to get their names enrolled in the electoral rolls by submitting any valid identity card, including Aadhaar, that proves they are the progeny of the voters.
However, if a present-day voter has no link with the 2002 electoral rolls, he or she would have to submit any of the 11 mandatory documents to get enrolled in the electoral rolls or face deletion from the voter list.
Sources in the poll panel said that it would be a Herculean task to check such a huge number of documents in these two districts during the SIR.
“These two districts together have over 1.5 crore voters out of 7.62 crore Bengal voters. Since so many people in these two districts do not have any link with the 2002 electoral rolls, their documents would have to be verified thoroughly as Bengal is a politically sensitive state and the ruling party (Trinamool Congress) is already opposing the SIR. Any mistake will invite controversies,” said an official in the chief electoral officer's office in Calcutta.
Although the percentages of voters without links with the 2002 electoral rolls in South and North 24-Parganas districts has raised eyebrows in political and administrative circles, the overall figure in the state might not be that upsetting, said EC sources.
Several districts — Purulia, Murshidabad, Howrah — have recorded 70 per cent voters with links to the 2002 electoral rolls. In Hooghly, the figure is 69 per cent.
"A bordering district like Murshidabad has established links of 70 per cent of existing voters with the 2002 list," said an official.
Although Bengal's final figure of voters with links to the 2002 rolls is yet to emerge as compilations are still on, insiders said that the figure was likely to be somewhere between 65 and 68 per cent.
“But still, this is much lower than Bihar where nearly 80 per cent of the voters had established their links with the 2003 electoral rolls. In Bihar, mapping was done with the 2003 rolls as the last SIR there was done in 2003,” said a source.