Nearly Half of West Bengal’s Current Voters Mismatch 2002 Electoral Roll

Ahead of the 2026 state elections, officials in West Bengal have revealed a significant discrepancy between the current electoral roll and the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted in 2002.

Key Finding from Voter Mapping

• 45% Mismatch: Officials stated that approximately 45% of the voters’ names in the present electoral roll do not match the names listed in the 2002 voters’ list, which is being used as the benchmark for a new revision exercise.

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR)

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has begun a voter mapping exercise as a precursor to the new SIR, which is expected to be rolled out soon.¹ The ECI has already made the 2002 list available on the state’s Chief Electoral Officer website.²

• Process: Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct house-to-house surveys to verify voters’ names.³
• Purpose of Mismatch: Officials indicated that the large mismatch is due to various factors, including the addition of new voters every year, names of deceased voters not being deleted, and voters who have shifted residences.

District-wise Mismatch Data

The mismatch varies across districts:

Data for districts like Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Darjeeling, and Jalpaiguri is still being compiled.

Assurance for Genuine Voters

Officials provided assurance that the goal of the SIR is not to delete genuine voters. They emphasized:

“Not a single name of any genuine person would be deleted in the SIR. Even those whose names were not there in the 2002 list need not worry. There are a range of documents which one can produce to include his or her name when BLOs start their house-to-house survey.”

The SIR process only becomes easier if names match the 2002 list, as seen in poll-bound Bihar, where a similar exercise used the 2003 electoral roll as its benchmark.