The Election Commission has released the draft voter list under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal, revealing that the names of more than 58 lakh voters have been identified for deletion. The move has triggered political discussion, especially after details emerged about deletions at booths linked to top political leaders.

According to the draft list issued on Tuesday, a total of 5,820,898 voter names have been marked for removal across the state. Of these, the largest group—2,416,852 voters—are reported to be deceased. Another 1,988,076 voters have reportedly migrated out of West Bengal to other states. Additionally, 1,220,038 voters are listed as missing with no traceable information. The Election Commission also identified 138,328 duplicate entries and 57,604 names under the “other” category.

At Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s polling booth, Mitra Institution, 127 voters’ names have been marked for deletion in the draft list. In contrast, at the booth of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari—Part No. 79 at Nanda Nayak Bor School—only 11 voter names have been identified for removal.

The Election Commission has clarified that these deletions are part of the draft stage of the SIR exercise. Voters have been urged to verify their details and check whether their names appear on the list. If a voter believes their name has been wrongly deleted, they can file an objection or claim within the prescribed time frame through both online and offline modes.

The SIR process, which was conducted earlier in Bihar in its first phase, is now being implemented in 12 states, including West Bengal. Its objective is to clean up electoral rolls by removing ineligible names, adding new eligible voters, and correcting errors.

According to the Commission’s data, areas such as Chowringhee and Kolkata Port in Kolkata recorded the highest number of deletions. The final voter list will be published after objections and claims are examined, making voter verification crucial in the coming weeks.