'List stands frozen': Nearly 91 lakh voters deleted from Bengal rolls after SIR

NEW DELHI: Nearly 91 lakh names have been removed from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, according to data released by the Election Commission.The poll panel has not yet announced the final size of the revised electorate after completion of the process. As per official data published on February 28, around 63.66 lakh voters, about 8.3 per cent of the electorate, had already been deleted since the SIR began in November last year. This brought down the voter base from nearly 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.The revised 7.04 crore figure included more than 60.06 lakh electors placed under the “under adjudication” category. Of these, over 27.16 lakh voters were later deleted following scrutiny by judicial officers, while more than 32.68 lakh were retained and included in the final rolls.Overall, the total deletions since the start of the SIR process stood at approximately 90.83 lakh, the EC data showed.“The revision exercise has been carried out in a phased and transparent manner. District-wise data has now been placed in the public domain to ensure complete accountability," a senior EC official said.Out of the 60.06 lakh voters under adjudication, data for 59.84 lakh has been published, while 22,163 cases have been resolved but are awaiting e-signatures, the official said.“Once the pending procedural formalities, including e-signatures, are completed, there may be marginal changes in both deletion and inclusion figures,” the official said.The official added that the entire process has been conducted in line with established guidelines."Any further inclusion at this stage will be subject to legal provisions and directions, if any, from competent authorities," the official said.Meanwhile, with the release of the final supplementary list, electoral rolls for the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections have been frozen from midnight on Monday, as per norms.Of the total 294 assembly seats, polling for 152 constituencies will take place on April 23 in the first phase, while the remaining 142 seats will go to polls on April 29. Electoral rolls for the second phase will be frozen on April 9.“There will be no further inclusion in the electoral roll at this stage. The list stands frozen as per law following the last date of nomination for the first phase,” a senior Election Commission official told PTI. “Any change hereon will depend solely on fresh directions, if any, from the Supreme Court," he said.The Apex court, which is currently hearing the SIR-related matter concerning West Bengal, is scheduled to take up the case again on April 13.(With Inputs form PTI)