After Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to implement the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal from November 1, with all District Election Officers (DEOs) instructed to remain alert, sources told News18.
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal has communicated to all District Magistrates that preparations must start immediately and all pending work be completed without delay. The SIR exercise may commence at any time.
Voter list mapping between 2002 and 2025 is nearly complete across the state, except in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, where flooding delayed the process; it is expected to finish within five days.
From today onwards, the CEO’s office will remain operational 24×7, with all personnel involved in SIR work required to be present. DEOs and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have been instructed to set up help desks for SIR-related issues. Multi-party meetings will be convened at both state and district levels after the official SIR announcement, and all decisions will be reported to the ECI.
Also read: ECI directs State CEOs to finalise preparations for nationwide SIR
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had earlier stated that the ECI intends to conduct a pan-India SIR in every state and Union Territory. “The EC will decide on the dates and make a formal announcement,” he said during a press conference earlier this month.
In Bihar, the SIR exercise ahead of Assembly elections resulted in the deletion of 69 lakh voters due to deaths, duplicate entries, and illegal immigrants, leaving 7.43 crore voters on the final list. Opposition parties had criticised the exercise as an attempt to disenfranchise voters, which the EC denied, stating it aimed to “purify” the voter lists ahead of high-stakes elections.
The SIR model piloted in Bihar is expected to be rolled out nationwide to standardise voter verification for future elections, the Election Commission added.
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