How West Bengal SIR played out differently from other states, what it means for rest of country

Those who are found ineligible on the basis of documents submitted during the SIR will be deleted from the rolls, losing the right to vote. This did not happen in the nine states and three Union Territories where the Election Commission has completed the SIR so far.

Here’s a look at how West Bengal’s electoral roll revision was different and what it means for the rest of the country.

What was the SIR process announced by the EC last year?

On June 24, 2025, the Election Commission announced its plan to conduct a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls of the country. For the past 20 years, the EC has been updating the electoral rolls in all states annually and before each Lok Sabha and Assembly election by adding newly eligible electors and deleting deceased and other ineligible electors.

The SIR order of June 24, however, laid out an unprecedented new process. All those who were registered as electors would be required to submit enumeration forms in a one-month enumeration phase, either to their local Booth Level Officer (BLO), or online.

All those who were added after the last intensive revision, which took place in the early 2000s across the states, would be required to submit documents from a list of 11 documents identified by the EC to establish their eligibility, which includes proving their citizenship. This process was first deployed in Bihar in June last year as the state was headed for Assembly elections later in the year.

On October 27, 2025, the EC announced a tweaked process for SIR in nine states (Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh) and three UTs (Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Puducherry). The SIR in Uttar Pradesh has been extended, with the final electoral roll scheduled to come out on April 10. The SIR for the remaining 22 states/UTs is likely to start in April this year.

For the second phase of SIR announced in October, the EC changed the enumeration form slightly. Now, all electors were required to “map” themselves with the electoral roll of the last intensive revision in any state or UT either through their own name on that roll or of a “relative” on that roll. All those who were unable to provide the details, which include the serial number at which they or a relative were enrolled, would then be issued a notice and be asked to provide documents to confirm their eligibility.

How was the SIR different in West Bengal?

The SIR process started out in the nine states and three UTs in the same manner. The one-month enumeration phase began on November 4, 2025. BLOs were required to go house-to-house to first distribute enumeration forms to all those who were registered as on October 27. Then they were required to go back to each household to collect the filled-up forms, which they then uploaded onto the ECI’s centralised ECINET portal using the dedicated BLO App.

All those whose forms were not returned or who the BLO found to have been deceased, shifted/absent or enrolled elsewhere were marked as such and deleted from the draft roll, which was published in December. In the case of West Bengal, this number was 58 lakh, reducing the number of electors from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, officials involved in the process in West Bengal said the BLOs were strictly instructed not to collect documents along with the enumeration forms during the enumeration phase. They were also told that electors should only “map” themselves with their parents on grandparents on the enumeration form.

This was not the case in other states. In UP, for instance, BLOs collected documents from electors in the first phase itself, in order to upload them as proof in case the elector was issued a notice for hearing at the later stage. In Bihar, where the SIR was held from June to August last year, officials told The Indian Express that electors were linked with any adult relative who was on the previous roll, including uncles and aunts.

When announcing the SIR second phase in October, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had said that the electors could link themselves with any adult relative. The enumeration form too asked for details of a “relative”, not a parent or grandparent.

After the draft rolls were published in December and January across the states/UTs, the one-month period for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), who are the statutory authority for maintaining the electoral rolls, to issue notices to the “unmapped” electors, hold hearings, collect documents and pass speaking orders on each case began.

The EC also deployed its centralised software through the ERONET portal to flag “logical discrepancies”, including spelling mismatch, people mapped with six or more progeny and age gap between elector and parent being less than 15 years or more than 50 years. These “logical discrepancy” cases were also sent notices and asked to appear before the EROs for hearings.

This is where the process in West Bengal deviated from the rest of the states. Three days after the draft roll was published and the notice period began, the Election Commission wrote to the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer on December 19, 2025 appointing “micro-observers” to keep a watch on the EROs and Assistant EROs during the hearing phase.

A total of 8,100 micro-observers, who are Central government employees working in PSUs and banks, were deployed to check the documents being submitted by electors during hearings, among other things. Not only was the deployment of micro-observers for roll revision a first for the EC, the Commission only did so in West Bengal.

This led to the ruling-Trinamool Congress in the state accusing the EC of bias against West Bengal and the micro-observers of interfering in the work of the statutory authority, the ERO. As per the Representation of the People Act, 1951, it is the ERO who can add and delete from the electoral roll of a constituency. The ERO is usually a state government employee of Sub-Divisional Magistrate rank who is appointed by the EC in consultation with the state government.

On its part, the EC said the West Bengal government had failed to provide an adequate number of SDM rank officials to be appointed as EROs, leading it to deploy micro-observers.

EC officials in West Bengal alleged the need for deploying micro-observers was felt as the EROs were acting on orders of the ruling party. They alleged that the EROs were not deleting those electors who were ineligible and were uploading all manner of documents as proof, including fake ones.

As the last date for hearings, February 14, came closer, the tussle between the EROs and micro-observers increased. The Supreme Court, which is hearing a batch of petitions challenging the legality of the EC’s SIR process, noted the “trust deficit” between the state government and the EC. On February 20, the SC ordered judicial officers to decide the pending cases, relying on its Article 142 power to pass a decree or order in interest of complete justice. This, too, was only done for West Bengal.

These are the 60.06 lakh cases which were then placed “under adjudication” when the final roll was published on February 28. The court has said that as and when the judicial officer decide on the eligibility of the electors concerned, supplementary lists will be published. These lists will be considered as a part of the final roll. But with the court not placing any deadline for the adjudication and Assembly elections likely to be announced soon, those not cleared in time risk losing their right to vote in these polls.

What does this mean for the rest of the country?

EC officials in West Bengal admit that the deployment of micro-observers and judicial officers to decide on electors’ eligibility has diluted the powers of the EROs, which are provided for in the RP Act, 1950. However, they add that it was necessary as the state government was not cooperating fully with the EC. For instance, they say, the state bureaucracy was reluctant to take action against any errant BLOs and EROs.

Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of the TMC, addressing a press conference on March 1, hit out at the EC for targeting the state. He said only 14 lakh cases were pending with the EROs and AEROs when the hearings ended, but when the final roll was published over 60 lakh were put under adjudication. Of the 60 lakh names, the highest number of electors under adjudication are in the districts with high minority population — Murshidabad, Malda, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas. Banerjee raised the question of “who decided which voters would fall under adjudication”.

The judicial officers are going through the documents uploaded by the EROs during the hearing phase or the documents collected but not uploaded before the deadline; they are not conducting hearings again or asking EROs or the electors themselves for additional documents. EROs and AEROs who spoke on condition of anonymity raised concerns that the 2002-2003 electoral rolls, to which elector s were supposed to link themselves to, had errors due to the translation from Bengali to English.