The Election Commission will publish Bengal’s final voter rolls on Saturday afternoon, capping a three-month-long anxiety-ridden SIR process marked by political mudslinging, street protests and courtroom drama.
The final rolls will include 7.08 crore voters who had made it to the draft rolls put out on December 16. They will be classified as “deleted”, “under adjudication” or “approved” in the final list, sources said.
As part of the cleansing process, the draft rolls had done away with 58 lakh absent, dead, shifted and duplicate voters who were in the 2025 list of 7.66-crore voters.
The Telegraph takes a closer look at the details of the final rolls that will be available on voters.eci.gov.in, ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in and the ECINET app.
Three categories
The “deleted” category of the final list will contain names of voters who either did not attend hearings or failed to submit documents specified by the EC.
The names were deleted after the election commissioner, electoral registration officers (EROs) and AEROs agreed that they did not meet the required criteria.
A total of 1.51 crore voters were called for hearings after the draft rolls were published. Of them, 32 lakh could not link themselves to the 2002 rolls through self or progeny mapping. Another 1.19 crore voters received hearing notices over discrepancies in their enumeration forms.
The EC could not specify how many of them were deleted after the hearing process.
The “under adjudication” category will include voters who the EC, EROs or AEROs were not sure should be included.
Following the Supreme Court’s intervention, judicial officers were tasked with deciding their fate. Nearly 60 lakh voters will be listed in this group.
The “approved” category will have voters who made it to the final rolls. A total of 5.57 crore voters, who were not called for hearings after the publication of the draft rolls, will find place on the final list. The figure will go up depending on how many of the 1.51 crore voters were cleared for inclusion.
How to find your name?
Voters can check their status on the two websites and app by keying in their EPIC numbers and names. They will be prompted to enter a captcha to generate the response that will show under which category they are listed.
Those who want to check their status offline can visit the offices of block development officers (BDOs), sub-divisional officers (SDOs) and district election officers (DEOs), where hard copies of the rolls will be available.
Political parties will be given soft copies of the final rolls.
What if my name is in the deleted category?
Voters in the deleted category can file an appeal before the DEO. If a voter is dissatisfied with the DEO’s decision, they can register an appeal online or offline before the CEO. Names can be included in the rolls till the last date of filing of nominations for candidates of the respective constituency for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Supplementary lists
EC officials said voters cleared by judicial officers from the list of 60 lakh disputed cases would be included in the final rolls through supplementary lists.
Officials said it would take a long time to complete the process, given its current pace.
To follow up on the progress of adjudication, Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Sujay Paul and Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Arijit Banerjee on Friday held a virtual meeting with the judicial officers engaged in the scrutiny.
“We have all faith and trust in you. Work hard and complete the job as early as possible. Work on Saturdays, Sundays and other holidays, except Holi,” the Chief Justice Paul reportedly told the judicial officers. “If there is any problem, approach us,” he added.
Additional reporting by Tapas Ghosh
