Overview
- The hearing phase across West Bengal has closed, and electoral officials are now scrutinising documents before publishing the final voters’ list on February 28.
- Election Commission estimates indicate about 6.61 lakh additional names may be deleted from the rolls, over and above roughly 58 lakh removed during the enumeration stage in December.
- Of the likely new deletions, approximately 4.98 lakh electors did not appear for hearings despite notices, while around 1.63 lakh were flagged ineligible after checks.
- The Commission has suspended seven West Bengal officials for misconduct in the SIR process and set a February 17 deadline for FIRs against four officers accused of adding fictitious voters, with the chief secretary summoned over non-compliance.
- Affected citizens can seek remedies, including appeals to the District Election Officer and the Chief Electoral Officer, and may apply for fresh inclusion using Form 6.