"CEC Gyanesh Kumar should visit West Bengal": Samik Bhattacharya urges EC to probe administrative interference in voter list revision

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 1 (ANI): West Bengal BJP President and MP Samik Bhattacharya on Sunday alleged that the state administration and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are working under the influence of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) to disrupt the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
West Bengal BJP President and MP Samik Bhattacharya said, "The entire administration has worked for TMC, BLOs have worked at TMC's behest or have been compelled to do so. In such a situation, if 44,000 names are removed from the list, the responsibility lies with the BLOs.SIR is ongoing in 12 states; there are no protests, no fires, no vandalism at BDO offices anywhere, so why in West Bengal? To investigate this, Gyanesh Kumar should visit West Bengal with the full team. Whether Form 7 was filed by the BJP or TMC, there should be a hearing on it."
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) released the final electoral roll following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in West Bengal, stating that 5,46,053 voters have been deleted using Form 7 after the draft list was published in December 2025.
The total number of voters in West Bengal now stands at 7,04,59,284 voters (7.04 crore) as compared to 7,66,37,529 (7.66 crore) before the SIR exercise, showing a change of more than 61 lakh names in the list.
According to a press note by the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), a total of 58,20,899 Enumeration Forms were not received, as the poll body found 24,16,852 voters to be deceased, 12,20,039 absent, 19,88,076 shifted, 1,38,328 already enrolled, and 57,604 names were deleted based on other reasons.
After the ECI published the draft voter list on December 16, 2025, the poll body added a total of 1,82,036 voters to the list using Forms 6 and 6A, and made 6,671 additions by Form 8.
As per the Commission, 60,06,675 electors under adjudication were included in the final rolls,
The gender ratio stands at 956, the same as after the publication of draft rolls.
The main objective of the SIR exercise was to ensure the inclusion of all the eligible electors and the exclusion of all the ineligible electors with full transparency at every stage of the process.
The revision process utilised a 100 per cent physical verification strategy, where Booth Level Officers (BLOs) personally managed the distribution and collection of enumeration forms, the press note said.
This exhaustive approach ensured the integrity of the electoral roll by successfully identifying and removing ineligible entries, specifically addressing deceased individuals, permanent out-of-state migrations, and duplicate registrations, the West Bengal CEO said. (ANI)