'Lakshman Rekha': After Bihar, ECI Readies For Electoral Roll Revision In Bengal
The ECI said in Supreme Court, 'Bihar is just the beginning. Bengal is next, and the exercise will be conducted across the entire nation."
The Election Commission on Thursday, during a hearing in Supreme Court, indicated that West Bengal, set to go to polls in 2026, may see the Systematic Investigation and Review (SIR) exercise soon, like Bihar. 'Bihar is just the beginning. Bengal is next, and the exercise will be conducted across the entire nation," the poll body said in the apex court.
This statement signals that the SIR process will soon begin in Bengal. Sources have told News18 that the Bengal Election Commission team is already prepared for the exercise.
A senior officer of the Commission in Kolkata said, 'There should be a Lakshman Rekha for everyone and for all institutions. The ECI is going to be very strict this time regarding bogus and ineligible voters. We are waiting for the ECI's SIR order, and we are ready to act on it."
This statement clearly indicates that the Bengal team is ready to implement the process as soon as the orders come in.
Meanwhile, the booth rationalisation exercise is already underway. This aims to ensure a proportionate number of voters in each booth, with no booth having more than 1,200 voters, as directed by the Commission.
Sources within the EC say this will not be a difficult task. There are over 7.62 crore voters in Bengal, and enumeration forms will have to be distributed to all of them. Following this, draft electoral rolls will be published, allowing time for claims and corrections. A large number of booth-level officers will be engaged in this process. After the entire procedure, the final rolls will be released.
SIR involves door-to-door verification to include eligible voters and remove ineligible or duplicate entries, ensuring a clean and transparent electoral roll. This revision addresses issues arising from urbanisation, migration, and unreported deaths, and it also aims to prevent illegal immigrants from being included in the list.
In Bengal, the Trinamool Congress is vehemently opposing the SIR exercise. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has stated that it is more dangerous than the NRC, while TMC MP Mahua Moitra has already filed a case against it. On the other hand, the BJP has welcomed the move, alleging that the TMC is opposing it because its Muslim vote bank will be adversely affected.
Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendhu Adhikari said, 'There are a lot of fake voters in Bengal. Infiltrators are also listed as voters. This has to be cleansed… What is happening in Bihar should also happen in West Bengal."
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July 10, 2025, 17:09 IST
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