The bulk of entries flagged so far fall into the categories that commonly prompt removal of deceased voters, those who have shifted addresses, untraceable names and duplicates.

The state’s electoral roll, as last certified on October 27, 2025, lists 7,66,37,529 registered voters. In proportion, the provisional 50-lakh figure represents a significant chunk of the electorate. Election officials and the Chief Electoral Officer’s office have stressed repeatedly that this is a provisional outcome of the digitisation exercise and must be understood in the administrative sequence that follows publication of the draft list, notices, hearings and disposal of claims and objections, and finally the ECI’s checks and permission for the final roll.

The draft list was scheduled for publication on December 16, 2025, with hearings and verification to follow before any name is finally deleted.

According to The News Minute, the officials working at the CEO’s office provided a breakdown of the roughly 50-lakh provisional cases: more than 23 lakh were classified as “deceased,” over 18 lakh as “shifted,” and more than 7 lakh as “untraceable,” with the remaining entries attributed to duplicates or other removal reasons. These categories mirror the normal administrative reasons that electoral rolls are pruned; however, the speed and scale of the flags — not just the categories themselves — have alarmed voters, civil society groups and political parties alike.

The final numbers will depend on hearings and verifications scheduled between mid-December and early February 2026.

How SIR became a public crisis

Petitioners challenging the SIR in the Supreme Court have argued on December 2 that the Special Intensive Revision is illegal and unconstitutional, claiming that the scale, timing and manner of its implementation violate established electoral norms. Despite the pendency of these challenges, voter-list revision remains, on its face, a routine democratic duty that both the State and the Election Commission of India are obligated to maintain accurate rolls so that eligible voters are neither omitted nor counted more than once.

Even so, aspects of the present exercise — its pace, concentrated timelines, the extensive door-to-door verifications carried out by Booth Level Officers (BLOs), and the near-real-time visibility of digitisation flags — unfolded in an environment of heightened public attention, leading to widespread anxiety among sections of the population. Social media circulation, intense political scrutiny and fragmented information channels further contributed to confusion about what provisional flags meant, particularly among vulnerable citizens.

In several districts, police and administrative logs recorded citizens who said they feared losing their names or being confronted with legal consequences because of missing paperwork. Interviews collected by reporters from families of victims described panic, confusion and, in some cases, pre-existing vulnerability — old age, lack of regular identity documents, migratory labour status or poor literacy — as the factors that turned an administrative notice into a cause of intense personal distress. The pattern of panic is not unique to this revision: previous national episodes where large administrative drives intersected with inadequate public outreach have produced similar outcomes. What made the present wave distinct was the speed with which thousands of provisional deletions became visible and the proliferation of alarming claims — anecdotal and political — across platforms, The News Minute reported

Field staff reported pressure, and the death of a few BLOs earlier in the exercise crystallised wider concerns. Employee associations, local administrators and civil society groups told reporters that the compressed timeframes required an exceptional workload from BLOs, who must complete verifications under deadlines, often with server or app issues, poor transport or unclear instructions. The tragic deaths reported during this period sparked urgent questions about whether adequate staffing, mental-health support and realistic timeframes accompanied a process of such scale.

#WATCH | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala | BLOs across the state boycotted work in protest over the suicide of a BLO in Kannur. They marched to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer
In other districts, protests were held at the District Collectorates. The protest was jointly… pic.twitter.com/i7vhS7VEsc

— ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2025

The tally of deaths and the state’s response

In the last weeks of the SIR exercise, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) compiled and presented lists of deaths they allege were linked to SIR-induced panic. The TMC delegation took such lists to the Election Commission and made repeated public claims that dozens of people, including BLOs and ordinary citizens, had died as a direct or indirect result of the SIR exercise. The party’s public figures described the deaths as a humanitarian crisis and a political failure of the SIR implementation. The TMC tabled “40” or “39” as the number of deaths in various submissions and press interactions, as the Times of India reported

On December 2, 2025, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a Rs. 2 lakh ex gratia payment for the families of 39 people she said had died due to “SIR-panic,” and Rs. 1 lakh for persons whose condition worsened during the verification exercise but who survived. The announcement was presented by the state as a humanitarian step to assuage grief and to remind citizens that the SIR process is not punitive in itself. The CM and state officials insisted the measure was necessary given the scale of distress and to underline the government’s role in supporting affected families.

For years, Delhi’s Bangla-Birodhi cabal has sat like vultures on Bengal’s rightful dues worth ₹2 lakh crore. And today, the same BJP that weaponised the Election Commission to ram SIR down Bengal’s throat is suddenly pretending to care about BLOs’ honorarium.

If the Centre had… pic.twitter.com/JaAJvMGKq0

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) December 1, 2025

The TMC also submitted lists to the Election Commission during a delegation meeting in New Delhi where party leaders voiced sharp criticism of the ECI and its conduct of SIR in West Bengal. The party accused the ECI of being insensitive to the emotional and social consequences of the drive, citing the deaths and hospitalisations reported from various districts. The TMC’s demonstrations and delegations intensified public and media focus on the human consequences of the revision exercise.

Sharing herewith my today’s letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, articulating my serious concerns in respect of two latest and disturbing developments. pic.twitter.com/JhkFkF6RWs

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) November 24, 2025

The ECI, meanwhile, has responded to the allegations in court and in public statements. According to The Hindu, in affidavits and hearings before the Supreme Court, the Commission described claims of mass disenfranchisement as “highly exaggerated” and maintained that the SIR is a constitutionally mandated and transparent administrative exercise intended to maintain accurate electoral rolls. The ECI also warned political parties against intimidating BLOs and stressed that any names flagged during digitisation will get due process in the notice, hearing and objection windows before final deletion.

These institutional exchanges — TMC’s claims and ECI’s rebuttals — unfolded in parallel to the state government’s relief announcements.

What the ECI says and what courts are hearing

The ECI’s defence of SIR in the Supreme Court highlighted that digitisation trends alone do not determine final deletions and that the statutory safeguards of notice, hearing and disposal of objections must play out. In written affidavits, the Commission argued that allegations of systematic disenfranchisement were factually unfounded and politically motivated, pointing to the processual safeguards embedded in electoral law. The Commission’s public posture included cautionary notices to political actors to avoid intimidation of field officers and to allow BLOs to complete verifications unhindered.

At the same time, political delegations from West Bengal argued before the ECI and in the media that the pace, the timing and the perceived motives behind SIR risked alienating communities and that the ECI needed to exercise greater sensitivity. These tensions — legal, administrative and political — set the terms for the weeks leading up to and following the publication of the draft roll on December 16, 2025.

Mamata’s public outreach: ‘May I Help You’ camps and rallies

In response to the surge of panic, and framed as a rights-protection measure, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a large-scale outreach plan. Beginning on December 12, the state government will set up “May I Help You” camps across every block in West Bengal.

The stated objective of these camps is to assist people whose names are flagged in the draft roll, help them assemble or correct documentation, guide them through the claims and objections process, and ensure that no genuine voter is removed simply for lack of paperwork. The camps are also meant to offer a visible and immediate reassurance to citizens that the state will actively support them during hearings and verifications.

Mamata has deployed these announcements in public rallies and district visits where she has framed the SIR process as being politically charged and pushed by the Centre.

‘কোটিবার বাংলা ভাষায় কথা বলব!’ — বিজেপিকে চ্যালেঞ্জ জননেত্রী মমতা বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের।#MamataBanerjee pic.twitter.com/xhYemx9K5K

— Banglar Gorbo Mamata (@BanglarGorboMB) December 3, 2025

In rallies, she has warned against “weaponising” the revision and has called on party workers and local officials to assist citizens in the help camps. The CM’s public speeches have combined administrative directives (the establishment and staffing of camps) with political claims about motives and effects, aiming to both reassure vulnerable residents and mobilise political solidarity ahead of the assembly elections scheduled for 2026.

Mamata’s own account on X (formerly Twitter) amplified the compensation announcement and the help-camp plan: her verified handle posted the government’s decisions and appealed for calm, signposting the administrative steps being taken in the coming days. Official state and party handle also circulated schedules for district-level visits, helpline numbers and details of local camp venues as these were finalised.

It is sad and unfortunate that we have lost 29 precious lives due to disruption in health services because of long drawn cease work by junior doctors.

In order to extend a helping hand to the bereaved families, State Government announces a token financial relief of Rs. 2 lakh…

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) September 13, 2024

Helplines, camps and the practicalities of the relief plan

State officials described the “May I Help You” camps as a three-part intervention as immediate assistance to citizens flagged in digitisation (document checks and form help); facilitating representation at ERO hearings by informing registered claimants about hearing dates and rights; and providing limited financial relief where deaths or serious health deterioration could be credibly linked to SIR-induced distress.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has firmly addressed feⱥrs around the ongoing SIR (Special Identification and Registration) exercise, assuring the public that “no one will go to Bangladesh.” She announced “May I Help You” camps beginning December 12 across the state,… pic.twitter.com/LQWhKNBleI

— The Logical Indian (@LogicalIndians) December 4, 2025

The camps are to be staffed by government clerical personnel, local health-and-welfare officers and — in places — TMC volunteers, according to state releases. The efficacy of these camps will depend heavily on local logistics: transport to block headquarters, staffing levels, coordination with electoral officers and clear public communication about timelines and required documents.

The state said the payments for bereaved families — the Rs. 2 lakh ex gratia — would be expedited and administered through district disaster relief desks or equivalent welfare channels. For survivors who suffered severe illness during the SIR period, officials said a Rs.1 lakh assistance would be made available upon verification of medical records and circumstances. The practical implementation — how quickly families will receive money, whether the assistance will be disbursed as one-time grants or routed through existing welfare programmes — will be closely watched by the media and rights groups in the weeks ahead, as the Times of India reported

Moreover, the SIR exercise in West Bengal encapsulates a difficult administrative paradox that electoral rolls must be accurate to preserve democratic fairness, yet the processes that produce that accuracy must be implemented in ways that avoid causing social harm. The provisional flagging of nearly 50 lakh names created a public crisis because the mechanical outcome of digitisation met a social reality where millions of citizens — some undocumented, some mobile, some vulnerable — lacked reassurance about what a provisional flag meant for their legal rights.

The West Bengal government’s compensation for families and the creation of block-level “May I Help You” camps are immediate, targeted responses to the humanitarian fallout; the ECI’s court submissions and processual guarantees are the institutional reassurance that legal safeguards remain in place. Whether these parallel interventions will restore confidence will depend on the quality of on-ground implementation: transparent hearings, accessible help desks, rapid disbursement of relief where appropriate, and a clear, plain-language public information campaign explaining rights and remedies.

Related:

SIR exercise leaves trail of suicide across states as BLOs buckle under pressure and citizens panic over citizenship

Pregnant woman deported despite parents on 2002 SIR rolls, another homemaker commits suicide

Haunted by NRC fears, 57-year-old West Bengal man dies by suicide; Mamata blames BJP for turning democracy into a “theatre of fear”

The post Nearly 50 lakh names flagged for deletion in West Bengal, state government announces Rs. 2 Lakh relief for SIR-linked deaths, CM Mamta Banerjee launches ‘May I Help You’ block camps appeared first on SabrangIndia.

While the Election Commission of India (ECI) claims that it is to update and purify the voter lists, the methodology being employed on the ground has come under intense scrutiny following the deaths of government employees and citizens.

The exercise, which involves rigorous door-to-door verification, data collection, and digitisation of voter records, has been compressed into a tight schedule. Political leaders and employee unions allege that a process that traditionally spans years has been forced into a two-month window, creating unrealistic targets. This issue has reportedly resulted in “inhuman” work pressure for the foot soldiers of the process—the Booth Level Officers (BLOs)—and ignited fears of disenfranchisement among the poor, reminiscent of the anxieties surrounding the National Register of Citizens (NRC), as per a report in Livemint.

This report details the unfolding tragedy across three states—West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Kerala—documenting the specific incidents of suicide, the allegations of harassment by supervisors, and the systemic failures that have left families in mourning.

West Bengal

West Bengal has reported the highest intensity of distress-related incidents since the enumeration exercise began. The state has witnessed fatalities among officials tasked with the work, as well as suicide attempts by citizens panicked by the sudden demand for documentation.

The suicide of Shantimoni Ekka

In the Rangamati Panchayat of Malbazar, the SIR process claimed the life of Shantimoni Ekka. A 48-year-old Anganwadi worker, Ekka had been conscripted into election duty as a BLO. On November 19, her family’s routine was shattered when they found her body hanging in the courtyard of their home.

The circumstances leading to her death reveal a systemic failure to support ground-level staff. Her family states that she was the sole BLO for her booth and was buckling under the pressure of distributing and collecting forms door-to-door.

According to the Indian Express, her son, Bishu Ekka, spoke to the media about his mother’s deteriorating mental state. He explained that the sheer volume of forms was overwhelming, and a critical language barrier made the task impossible.

“She was very disturbed mentally,” Bishu said.

“She had tremendous work pressure. There was the work pressure of the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Service) and then this BLO duty. There were too many forms, and the forms were in Bengali, and no one was able to help us” as reported

According to the report, this linguistic disconnect was corroborated by her husband, Soko Ekka. He pointed out that while the forms provided by the administration were in Bengali, their area is predominantly Hindi-speaking. This mismatch caused confusion among residents, who were unable to understand the forms or filled them out incorrectly. The burden of rectifying these errors fell entirely on Shantimoni.

“Many are not understanding and filling in wrongly,” Soko said.

He further added that “She was under tremendous pressure; she used to tell me that with the BLO work, she was unable to do any other work”

Most damning is the revelation that Shantimoni had attempted to exit the process before taking her life. Her husband revealed that she had approached officials to resign from her BLO duties. However, her request was summarily rejected. The officer in charge reportedly told her that since her name was already in the system, it could not be cancelled. Feeling trapped between an unyielding administration and an unmanageable workload, she took the extreme step.

“We thought that she had gone to cook in the morning but later, we saw her hanging,” her husband said

Previous fatalities and medical emergencies

Shantimoni Ekka’s death was not an isolated event in the state. Just days prior, on November 9, another BLO named Namita Hansdar died in Purba Bardhaman. Hansdar, who was responsible for booth number 278 in Chowk Balrampur, Memari, suffered a fatal brain stroke. Her family has alleged that the stroke was the direct result of exhaustion, stating she had been forced to work “day and night” to meet the SIR deadlines.

Citizen panic and the shadow of NRC

While officials face administrative pressure, the common citizens of West Bengal are facing a different kind of terror as the fear of statelessness. The SIR exercise involves verifying old records, a process that has inadvertently triggered trauma related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

As per a report in Bhaskar English, in North 24 Parganas this fear nearly killed Ashok Sardar. The 63-year-old rickshaw puller from Prafullanagar Low Land, under Kamarhati Municipality, jumped onto the railway tracks near the CCR Bridge at Belgharia. He survived the impact but sustained critical injuries, leading to the amputation of one of his limbs. He remains in a serious condition at RG Kar Hospital.

The police and his family confirmed that his suicide attempt was driven by anxiety over the SIR process. Sardar had recently discovered that he and his wife were unable to locate their names in the 2002 voters’ list. In the current political climate, where documentation is often conflated with citizenship status, this discrepancy caused him to panic.

His daughter, Chaitali Sarkar, explained his mindset that “For days, father kept saying he had no documents. He feared he might be thrown out of the country. That fear may have driven him to do this.”

According to police sources, Sardar had been living in “persistent fear” after hearing about the distribution of forms and the document requirements mandated by the SIR exercise.

Political confrontation

The rising death toll has led to a sharp confrontation between the West Bengal government and the Election Commission. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took to social media platform X to express her shock, stating that “28 people have already lost their lives since SIR began.”

She categorised these deaths as a result of fear, uncertainty, stress, and overload.

Deeply shocked and saddened.

Today again, we lost a Booth Level Officer in Mal, Jalpaiguri — Smt Shanti Muni Ekka, a tribal lady, an anganwadi worker who took her own life under the unbearable pressure of the ongoing SIR work.

28 people have already lost their lives since SIR…

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) November 19, 2025

Banerjee followed this public statement with a formal letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. In the letter, she called for an immediate halt to the SIR drive, describing it as “unplanned, chaotic, and dangerous.”

“I am compelled to write to you as the situation surrounding the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has reached a deeply alarming stage,” Banerjee wrote.

CM Banerjee said that “The manner in which this exercise is being forced upon officials and citizens is not only unplanned and chaotic, but also dangerous… A process that earlier took 3 years is now being forced into 2 months on the eve of elections to please political masters, putting inhuman pressure on BLOs.”

“Unrealistic workloads, impossible timelines and inadequate support with online data.. BLOs are operating beyond human limits…and fearful of punitive action .. at the peak of the paddy harvest season the timing of this exercise is indefensible..I request you to halt this… pic.twitter.com/i0zkSMVKxm

— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) November 20, 2025

She urged the ECI to “act with conscience” and stop the drive before more lives were lost.

In contrast, the Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, defended the Election Commission. He attributed the issues to local administrative mismanagement rather than the central directive. Speaking to the media, Adhikari said, “I have found out the reason is the joint BDO. The EC has no role. The TMC was to destroy the SIR, but we are happy that the SIR has begun in Bengal.”

A Strong Rebuttal to Mamata Banerjee’s desperate attempt to sabotage the Voter List Purification Drive.

I have sent a detailed letter to Hon’ble Chief Election Commissioner; Shri Gyanesh Kumar, completely exposing the politically motivated and factually bogus letter written by… pic.twitter.com/TXngNmFhTT

— Suvendu Adhikari (@SuvenduWB) November 20, 2025

He claimed that in other states where SIR is ongoing, “nothing is happening,” and that the crisis was specific to TMC-ruled Bengal.

Rajasthan

The crisis is not limited to Bengal, reports from Rajasthan indicate similar distress among government employees. In Jaipur, the pressure of the SIR exercise resulted in the suicide of a government school teacher, Mukesh Chand Jangid.

The death of Mukesh Chand Jangid

Jangid, who was serving as a BLO, died by suicide on November 16, by jumping in front of a train. Unlike the cases in Bengal where general pressure was blamed, Jangid left behind specific evidence of harassment. A suicide note recovered from his pocket accused his supervisor, Sitaram Bunkar, of mental harassment and repeated threats of suspension.

पश्चिम बंगाल के जलपाईगुड़ी में BLO शांति मुनि जी ने खुदकुशी कर ली। ये बेहद दुखद और चिंताजनक है।

इससे पहले राजस्थान, मध्य प्रदेश, केरल और तमिलनाडु से भी BLO के आत्महत्या से जुड़ी खबरें आई थीं।

ऐसे हर मामले में ये बात सामने आ रही है कि SIR के दबाव की वजह से BLO आत्महत्या कर रहे… pic.twitter.com/sjstmDOuuY

— Congress (@INCIndia) November 19, 2025

The timeline of his death, reconstructed by his family, paints a picture of a dedicated officer pushed to the brink. His younger brother, Gajanan, revealed that the suicide note was dated November 13—three days before his death. This suggests Jangid had been carrying the note while continuing to perform his duties.

According to Dainik Bhaskar, on the evening of November 15, Jangid received a long phone call from his supervisor. Following the call, at 9:30 PM, he handed a thick bundle of voter forms to his younger brother, asking him to paste passport-sized photographs on them, indicating he was still trying to complete the work.

The next morning, at 4:45 AM, he left his home in Dharampura (Kalwar) in his home clothes. At 6:45 AM, the family received a call from the Bindayka police station asking them to identify his body on the railway tracks.

Technical failures and “digital” pressure

Jangid’s son, 10-year-old Revanshu, provided insight into the technical struggles his father faced. As part of the modernisation of the electoral rolls, BLOs are required to collect data offline and then upload it to a central server. This process was reportedly fraught with glitches.

Revanshu said that his father working late into the night, struggling with the upload process, and often seeking help from colleagues who were equally helpless. When the child asked when the work would finish, Jangid replied that he did not know when it would end.

Family’s allegations of cover-up

The aftermath of Jangid’s death has been marked by conflict between the family and the police. Mukesh’s uncle, Bhanwarlal Jangid, stated that the police have refused to hand over copies of the suicide note or the FIR to the family. The investigating officer reportedly only read the note aloud to them. The family has expressed deep dissatisfaction with the investigation, though CI Vinod Kumar has assured that those named in the note will be questioned.

The tragedy has devastated the family’s future. Jangid is survived by his wife, Meena Devi, and two daughters, Annu (23) and Jyoti (21). Both daughters are engaged to be married next year. Instead of wedding preparations, the household is now in mourning, as reported

Kerala

In Kerala, the suicide of a BLO has sparked a massive mobilisation of state government employees, leading to strikes and boycotts.

The death of Aneesh George

Aneesh George, a 44-year-old BLO in the Payyannur Assembly constituency of Kannur, was found hanging in his house on a Sunday. His family immediately attributed his death to the intense pressure to complete the SIR enumeration process by the December 4 deadline.

#WATCH | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala | BLOs across the state boycotted work in protest over the suicide of a BLO in Kannur. They marched to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer
In other districts, protests were held at the District Collectorates. The protest was jointly… pic.twitter.com/i7vhS7VEsc

— ANI (@ANI) November 17, 2025

The political reaction in Kerala mirrored the polarisation seen in other states. According to the Telegraph India, leader of the opposition V.D. Satheesan alleged that George had faced threats from CPM workers after a Congress booth-level agent accompanied him for enumeration. The CPM, however, rejected these claims, with Kannur district secretary K.K. Ragesh stating that George’s death was not an isolated incident but part of a pattern seen in Rajasthan and Bengal due to ECI targets.

Leaked audio and “dire consequences”

The allegations of coercion gained credibility when local television channels aired a leaked audio message from an electoral registration officer in Pathanamthitta district. In the recording, the officer is heard warning BLOs of “dire consequences” if they failed to meet the strict targets set for the revision process. This audio confirmed the fears of many employees that their jobs were on the line if they could not keep up with the accelerated pace, as reported

SIR में ड्यूटी करने वाले कई BLO अत्यधिक दबाव के चलते आत्महत्या कर चुके हैं.

SIR कर्मचारी इतना ज़्यादा दबाव में क्यों काम कर रहे हैं?

सरकार इतनी जल्दी में क्यों है? #BLOSuicide #SIR pic.twitter.com/1MjLuNLKfl

— Neha Singh Rathore (@nehafolksinger) November 20, 2025

Mass boycott

In response to the suicide and the threats, the trade unions of Kerala mobilised. On November 17, approximately 35,000 BLOs across the state boycotted SIR work. Under the banner of various state government employee unions, they held protests outside the Chief Electoral Office in Thiruvananthapuram and at district collectorates.

The protesting employees demanded that the authorities refrain from exerting excessive pressure and called for a postponement of the SIR process, citing the upcoming local body elections in December as a reason for the unbearable workload.

A systemic crisis

The events in West Bengal, Rajasthan, and Kerala highlight a fundamental disconnect between the claims of the Election Commission and the human capacity of its workforce.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in her letter to the CEC noted that the process suffers from “critical gaps in training, lack of clarity on mandatory documentation and the near-impossibility of meeting voters in the midst of their livelihood schedules.” The shift from a multi-year timeline to a two-month sprint has removed the necessary buffer for error correction and stress management.

In a shameless attempt to serve the @BJP4India’s political greed, the @ECISVEEP has recklessly rushed the SIR process, and is now driving people to their deaths. A BLO has died by suicide after being crushed under inhuman workloads. Will the Election Commission finally admit its… pic.twitter.com/q7zUs60fcF

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) November 20, 2025

Furthermore, the legal context remains complicated. The SIR process was challenged in the Supreme Court after it was launched in Bihar, and the matter remains pending. While the Court has issued directions regarding the use of Aadhaar cards for identity verification, the implementation on the ground remains chaotic.

While officials have noted that the SIR exercise concluded without such fatalities in Bihar, the rising body count in other states suggests that the “Bihar model” is not seamlessly replicable. Whether it is the language barrier in Malbazar, the digital divide in Jaipur, or the political volatility in Kannur, the “one size fits all” approach is failing.

The human cost of documentation

The climate of fear produced by the SIR drive is inseparable from the shadows cast by earlier citizenship exercises such as the NRC and the CAA. The recent death of 57-year-old Pradip Kar from Agarpara in North 24 Parganas is the latest tragic reminder of how deeply these anxieties have penetrated everyday life in Bengal. On October 28, 2025, Kar was found hanging in his home, leaving behind a note that read “NRC is responsible for my death.”

According to Sabrang India, Kar’s family said he had grown visibly distressed after the Election Commission announced the SIR across 12 states, including West Bengal—a move widely feared in the state as a precursor to an NRC-like process. Barrackpore Police Commissioner Murlidhar Sharma confirmed that while no foul play was detected, the suicide note made an explicit reference to the NRC. “The family told us he was deeply disturbed by NRC-related reports. After the SIR announcement, he appeared anxious, but they assumed it was illness,” Sharma said. Kar’s sister added that he repeatedly told the family, “They will take me away in the name of NRC.”

Kar’s death mirrored the earlier tragedy of 31-year-old Debashish Sengupta from Kolkata, who died by suicide in March 2024 after being consumed by fears induced by the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). As reported by Sabrang India, Sengupta—who was visiting his grandparents in South 24 Parganas—was found hanging after confiding that his ailing father, a migrant from Bangladesh, could be denied citizenship due to inadequate documents. His family said he was “consumed by dread” that the newly notified CAA rules would render many stateless.

These deaths are no longer isolated cases as they are symptomatic of a broader psychological crisis in which bureaucratic exercises intended to update records instead evoke existential fears of erasure. Across Bengal, whispers that “NRC is coming through the backdoor” have gained the weight of lived experience. For vulnerable citizens, the acceleration of documentation requirements—whether through SIR, NRC, or CAA—has become indistinguishable from a threat to their very belonging.

Related:

Pregnant woman deported despite parents on 2002 SIR rolls, another homemaker commits suicide

Haunted by NRC fears, 57-year-old West Bengal man dies by suicide; Mamata blames BJP for turning democracy into a “theatre of fear”

Kolkata man commits suicide, family claims CAA rules led him to it

The post SIR exercise leaves trail of suicide across states as BLOs buckle under pressure and citizens panic over citizenship appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Announcing this, senior High Court advocate Anand Yagnik, who heads the Gujarat chapter of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), said that a committee has already been formed to examine the pros and cons of SIR. “While the SIR exercise began in Gujarat on November 4 and is scheduled to continue for a month, we will file a supporting petition in the case against SIR in the Gujarat High Court or the Supreme Court after observing how it proceeds in the state,” he said.

Yagnik’s announcement followed senior advocate Shahrukh Alam—who is arguing the SIR case in the Supreme Court—urging Gujarat’s civil society to also file a petition. She said there was an urgent need to create public awareness and build pressure against SIR, especially in the apex court, and that this could only be achieved if petitions were filed from different states.

Supporting the view of Gujarat activists that SIR is an exercise aimed at excluding marginalized sections from the electoral rolls, Alam said that the SIR, which began ahead of the Bihar elections despite a revision having already taken place in January, should be seen against the backdrop of an overall attack on democracy, freedom of speech, and the Constitution itself. However, she regretted that the political class remains “largely indifferent” to what is happening.

According to Alam, “We must remember that the space for free speech is shrinking—universities are cancelling lectures and refusing discussions. The state is seeking to decide everything: what to wear, what to eat, whom to marry. Exercises like the UCC, NRC, and actions around Waqf are all about the state deciding your identity. Today, state endorsement has become essential for everything. We are living as if in an open jail.”

Continuing, Alam said that in the same vein, it is now the state that seeks to decide whether one is a voter or not. “Civil society must take up the larger issues around SIR. Voting is based on the universal adult franchise, and it has always been the state’s job to ensure that no eligible citizen is left out. But now, the burden is being shifted—citizens are being asked to prove they are voters by submitting citizenship documents. The state is abdicating its responsibility,” she said.

Alam questioned why the ECI spent a huge amount of public money to revise the electoral rolls in Bihar in January, only to begin another “intensive revision” within six months, allegedly to “purify” the rolls. “Who is accountable for this waste of public funds? The ECI has not been questioned on this,” she emphasized.

On the legal front, Alam noted that while the ECI has the right to create electoral rolls, problems arise when it makes it mandatory for individuals to prove citizenship to qualify as voters. The ECI claims it will verify this on the basis of 11 documents, excluding Aadhaar and ration cards. “The ECI cannot act arbitrarily,” Alam asserted. “The Representation of the People Act merely requests citizens to assist in creating complete electoral lists. For 70 years, teachers went door-to-door recording names without asking for documents. Now, the onus has been reversed—each resident must prove citizenship.”

Countering the ECI’s initial claim that SIR aimed to remove “infiltrators,” Alam said, “Only three infiltrators were found.” When challenged, the ECI changed its justification, saying it was to “remove dead people” from the rolls. “But even that proved flawed—instances of deceased individuals remaining on the lists continued. The Supreme Court has yet to hear the case, even though Aadhaar has now been allowed,” she added.

Addressing the meeting, Sarfarazuddin of PUCL Bihar, who played a key role in opposing the ECI, called the exercise “dangerous” and “without legal basis.” He said it began in Bihar on June 24, requiring individuals to verify that they were on the 2003 electoral list to remain eligible voters. “No rationale was given. The timing was deliberate—monsoon floods begin after June-end. Would people save their lives or their documents in such a situation?” he asked.

He explained that block-level officers (BLOs) distributed enumeration forms requiring verification from 2003. In the absence of that, 11 alternative documents were allowed—but Aadhaar and ration cards were excluded, while passports, school-leaving certificates, birth certificates, and residence proofs were accepted.

“This was designed to exclude marginalized communities,” he said. “The Manjhi community, for instance, has only about 10 percent literacy. How can they be expected to comply? Many people had to bribe officials to get documents, leading to rampant corruption.”

In an instance of how marginalized sections are being excluded, Sarfarazuddin said that an 86-year-old poor woman’s name was missing from the draft voter list, following which her widow pension was also stopped. “Women are likely to suffer the most because of SIR,” he warned. “The ECI requires parents’ proof as one of the 11 documents. How do poor married women cope with this?”

He recounted an incident in a Muslim locality where residents protested after their duly completed forms were rejected. “A schoolteacher acting as BLO called her superior and said, ‘You told us not to accept Muslims’ forms. People are protesting—what do I do?’ Embarrassed, the officer told her to accept all the forms,” he said.

Similar protests were reported elsewhere. Initially, 64 lakh voters were found excluded in the revised draft. Following protests and legal interventions in the Supreme Court, many were restored, but the case remains pending. “This will be a long, drawn-out battle,” said Sarfarazuddin. “The ECI knows it has erred, but it has made it a prestige issue.”

Mujahid Nafees, who heads the Minority Coordination Committee and is PUCL Gujarat’s general secretary, pointed out that thousands of houses of fisherfolk on Bet Dwarka were demolished, though residents had Aadhaar cards with those addresses. “No one knows what will happen to their voting rights now,” he said.

Another Gujarat activist, Pankti Jog of the Association for Democratic Reforms, questioned how the ECI plans to “purify” electoral rolls amid Gujarat’s large-scale internal migration. Economist Hemant Shah asked whether the ECI’s aim was to prepare a voters’ list or to assess citizenship.

Courtesy: Counter View

The post Gujarat civil society to move Supreme Court against controversial electoral roll revision appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The first and most pressing is the case of 26-year-old Sunali Khatun from Birbhum’s Murarai area, pregnant at the time of her arrest, who was detained in Delhi in June along with her husband and 8-year-old son and subsequently deported to Bangladesh. She is currently jailed in Bangladesh, legally battling for her return to India.

The Sunali Khatun case

Sunali and her husband, Danish Sheikh, along with their son, were apprehended in Delhi’s K.N. Katju Marg in June, labeled as illegal immigrants. Their deportation was ordered by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) and executed despite Sunali’s family presenting Aadhaar and PAN documents, as per a report in the Times of India.

What has triggered shock and outrage is the revelation that Sunali’s parents — Bhodu Sheikh and Jyotsna Bibi — are listed as voters in Bengal’s 2002 SIR-era electoral roll, under Murarai assembly constituency.  Under the Citizenship Act, one route to being a citizen by birth is if one parent was an Indian citizen at the time of the person’s birth. In this case, both parents appear on a list of voters deemed legitimate by the Election Commission of India (EC).

The Calcutta High Court (HC) in September quashed the FRRO deportation order, noting the haste of the process and the mismatch in Sunali’s age (26 yrs, implying birth in 2000) and the claim of illegal entry in 1998. The court directed the Centre to repatriate her and her family within four weeks — a deadline that has lapsed, The Indian Express reported.

Her father told The Indian Express that “Now our names are on the list. What more do I need to have my pregnant daughter and her family back home?”

The ruling party in Bengal, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), has seized on these facts to accuse the opposition and the Centre of weaponising the SIR process and targeting poor Bengali-speaking migrants. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the TMC declared:

“To brand an expectant mother as an illegal infiltrator when her parents stand documented as Indian citizens in the 2002 electoral rolls, is not administrative oversight; it is a moral collapse orchestrated in the name of nationalism” as per a report in the Shillong Times.

Meanwhile, the Centre has moved the matter to the Supreme Court, resisting immediate compliance with the HC’s order.

A suicide amid SIR fears

In a parallel but separate another incident, Kakoli Sarkar, a 32-year-old homemaker originally from Dhaka, married and living in Titagarh for 15 years, ended her life by self-immolation. According to her mother-in-law, Kakoli had valid Indian documents, had voted in multiple elections, yet she lived with anxiety that her name was not on the 2002 voters’ list and that the SIR/NRC process might render her a suspect.

According to reports, on the night of her death she left a note stating that “No one is responsible for my death … I don’t feel well here … Please take care of my two daughters…”

Local police have detained her husband Sabuj Sarkar and her in-laws for questioning to determine if family pressure and documentation fears contributed to the tragedy, as reported

Impact and broader anxieties

These two cases are emblematic of a heightened climate of uncertainty across Bengal, where the SIR rollout and the spectre of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) continue to loom large. The EC’s announcement of SIR-drives across multiple states and Union Territories, including West Bengal, has reignited fears of exclusion, statelessness, and the sense that one’s right to remain is provisional, reported Sabrang India.

For Sunali’s family, the fact that her parents are on the 2002 roll should — in principle — secure her legitimacy. Yet she remains in a Bangladeshi prison and the deadlines set by the court remain unmet. For Kakoli, despite voting and living in India for years, the absence of a listing on the 2002 roll and the ongoing SIR process appears to have triggered existential dread.

Kakoli Sarkar’s suicide is not the only one

The fear that drove Kakoli Sarkar, to end her life amid growing panic over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is not an isolated tragedy. Her death joins a disturbing pattern of despair spreading across Bengal — where citizenship and belonging have become matters of fear rather than procedure.

Haunted by NRC and citizenship fears

The recent death of 57-year-old Pradip Kar from Agarpara, North 24 Parganas, once again exposes the deepening distress among Bengal’s citizens over ongoing citizenship verification exercises. On October 28, 2025, Kar was found hanging in his home, leaving behind a suicide note that “NRC is responsible for my death.”

According to SabrangIndia’s report, his family said he had grown increasingly anxious after the Election Commission announced the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 12 states, including West Bengal — a move widely feared to be a prelude to an NRC-like process.

According to Barrackpore Police Commissioner Murlidhar Sharma, there were no signs of foul play, but Kar’s note made an explicit reference to the NRC. “The family told us he was deeply disturbed by NRC-related reports. After the SIR announcement, he appeared anxious but they assumed it was illness,” Sharma said. Kar’s sister recalled, “He used to tell us he would be taken away in the name of NRC.”

Kar’s death mirrors the earlier tragedy of 31-year-old Debashish Sengupta from Kolkata, who died by suicide in March 2024 after being gripped by fears linked to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). As reported by Sabrang India, Sengupta—visiting his grandparents in South 24 Parganas—was found hanging after confiding that his ailing father, a migrant from Bangladesh, could be denied citizenship for lack of documents. His family said he was “consumed by dread” that the new CAA rules would render many stateless.

These deaths are no longer isolated incidents but reflections of emerging fears consuming ordinary citizens where bureaucratic exercises meant to verify identity instead provoke panic about erasure. Across Bengal, whispers of “NRC coming through the backdoor” now carry the weight of lived fear, not mere speculation.

Related:

Haunted by NRC fears, 57-year-old West Bengal man dies by suicide; Mamata blames BJP for turning democracy into a “theatre of fear”

Kolkata man commits suicide, family claims CAA rules led him to it

Selective & discriminatory, CAA notification likely to be followed by NPR-NRC

The post Pregnant woman deported despite parents on 2002 SIR rolls, another homemaker commits suicide appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In Bihar’s finalised voter database of 243 assembly constituencies, we found more than 14.35 lakh suspect duplicate voters. These are voters with two different voter IDs but the same names, the same name of a relative, and an age difference of 0-5 years. Of these 14.35 lakh, about 3.42 lakh duplicates were the most alarming, where the ages on both voter IDs matched perfectly as well. Additionally, there were tens of thousands of cases where people across Bihar hold at least three EPIC IDs.

Our analysis also reveals that around 1.32 crore voters have also been registered in the final voter list of the 243 constituencies on dubious and non-existent addresses. These are not the notional addresses that the ECI is required to provide to families of voters who are either homeless or living in homes without a registered address. In these cases, random voters from different families, castes, and communities have been wrongfully clubbed together under fictional addresses.

In one of the most egregious of such cases, we found that 505 people from different families, castes and communities continue to be registered on a fake address in Pipra constituency’s final voter list.

This could not have happened if the ECI and its army of ground staff had actually carried out the door-to-door verification of voters and their records, as it claims to have done.

The investigation rebuts Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s puffery after releasing the final voter list. On October 5, he said, “With the successful completion of SIR, the voters’ list in Bihar has been purified. It is after a gap of 22 years that such a cleansing has taken place. The exercise will now be conducted across the country.”

The Reporters’ Collective conducted this analysis in collaboration with a group of data analysts for all 243 assembly constituencies, followed by reporting in select constituencies to verify the data analysis.

The large-scale errors we detected in the draft voter lists – including duplicate voters and those registered at fictitious addresses – have been incorporated into the voter database with finality, which will now be used by the ECI to conduct elections in the state in November.

On Monday, the ECI announced that elections for the Bihar legislative assembly will take place in two phases on November 6 and 11. A total of 7.43 crore people are listed as voters.

How It Went Down

On June 24, the ECI announced the SIR of the voter rolls in Bihar.

From June 25 to July 25, the first leg of this SIR was carried out, in which all voters were asked to register afresh. In this month-long phase, booth-level officers (BLO) fanned out across the state to distribute and collect enumeration forms from all voters in Bihar. While initially claiming strict document requirements, amid ensuing chaos, ECI changed the rules midway, asking voters to submit enumeration forms without documents, if they wished.

On August 1, the draft voter list was published. We began our investigation at this point.

We found a litany of errors and malfeasance. In our first report, we found 5,000 dubious voters in the Valmikinagar assembly constituency, who were also registered to vote in the adjacent assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh.

We then found over 80,000 voters in three Bihar assembly constituencies of Pipra, Bagaha, and Motihari, who were registered to vote under fake or dubious addresses.

Through our third investigation, we unearthed 5.56 lakh suspect cases of duplication in the draft voter list across 142 assembly constituencies. Of these, the 1.29 lakh cases were most alarming, where all parameters, including age, matched perfectly. We verified several of these voters as duplicates through photo verification or on-ground verification.

ECI tried to counter these findings by claiming that if errors had crept in, they would be cleansed in the second leg of the SIR exercise.

The Bihar Chief Electoral Officer responded to our investigations on X, and tried to play down the findings by claiming, “The current draft rolls published under the SIR are not final. They are explicitly intended for public scrutiny, inviting claims and objections…”

“Any alleged duplication at the draft stage cannot be construed as a ‘final error’ or ‘illegal inclusion’…” he said.

In short, he implied all the problems found in the draft voter list would be sorted by the time the final list was published after the second leg of SIR.

The second leg, lasting two months, began. In this period, local election authorities and their vast army of booth-level officials and volunteers were to verify documents submitted by voters. Political party volunteers or other electors were told to file claims recommending deletions from and additions to the draft list. These claims were to be approved or rejected after a purportedly detailed exercise by the ECI officials, including ground checks and document verification.

It is while reporting on this leg of SIR, in our last investigation, we reached the Dhaka assembly constituency in East Champaran. We discovered that under the cover of the chaos, the BJP had repeatedly attempted to delete around 80,000 Muslim voters from the constituency’s rolls.

On September 30, the final list was put out. ECI patted itself on the back, calling the completed exercise a success. CEC claimed that purification of the Bihar voter rolls had taken place for the first time after 22 years. SIR is soon going to be conducted countrywide, he noted.

Fake Addresses

With the help of our collaborating data analysts, we decided to analyse the finalised voter list of all 243 Bihar assembly constituencies. We followed the same methodology we had while analysing the draft list. The methodology mimics the computer-based checks that the ECI is supposed to carry out internally on voter lists to identify potential duplicates and narrow down on other errors.

Here is what we have found.

1.32 crore voters continue to have dubious or fake addresses in these finalised voter rolls. We classify dubious and fake addresses as those where the ECI has registered more than 20 voters under the same address.

In the Barachatti assembly constituency, the ECI has registered 877 voters at house number 6. In Matihani constituency, 855 voters are registered at one fictitious address, and in Parsa assembly constituency, 853 voters are now registered to live at fictitious house number 23.

We ranked and compiled such examples of voters registered at dubious addresses across 243 constituencies. The worst twenty examples all had more than 650 voters registered at a single house address in the final voter list.

We decided to go back to the ground, to the crime scene of our very first report. In the draft list, we had found 80,000 voters registered at fake and dubious addresses in just three assembly constituencies of Pipra, Bagaha, and Motihari.

At the time, we had found the most mind-boggling cases in Galimpur Village of Pipra. We had unearthed 509 voters from different families, castes, and communities bundled and registered on one fictitious address. On another fictitious address, 459 voters had been similarly wrongfully registered as one unit.

When voters do not have house numbers, the ECI is required to give each household a unique notional address. In this case, hundreds from different houses had been bundled together, even though many had separate addresses recorded earlier on ECI records.

We went back to Galimpur to check if the Bihar CEO had been right. Had the ‘errors’ of the draft list been corrected in the final list?

In the finalised voter lists for Pipra, we have found that nothing has changed. In the final voter list, 505 voters continue to be bundled under one fictitious address, and 442 voters at another.

We revisited the voters we had interviewed for the earlier report. Shivnath Das was one of the 509 voters bundled under one fictitious address. He said ECI’s booth-level officials had not visited to verify their records and actual place of stay during the second leg of the SIR.

“No one asked us anything during this time. We ourselves questioned the BLOs and offered every possible cooperation, but nothing happened. No one came forward from anywhere. Now, we can’t do anything. The Election Commission should be doing its job. What can we say?” he said.

His neighbour, Dashrath Das, had also been wrongly registered at the same fictitious address. He added, “This is sheer negligence on the part of the Election Commission and BLOs. Many people will be affected. The opposition is raising the issue for good. Even after the uproar, nothing was fixed.”

We then spoke to Vijay Kumar Chaudhury, the BLO for Galimpur village. We wanted to understand if he had carried out any further verification during the second leg of the SIR. He said that he could not comment on the matter. He said there was no forgery at his booth.

​​We made further inquiries with election officials at the constituency level. We later spoke with the Electoral Officer at the district offices, who informed us that Pipra election officials were aware of our report and had read and carefully considered it.

“When we checked the two dubious addresses cited in your report, we did not find any bogus voters. You also said in your report that these were not bogus voters,” he said.

When we followed up by asking why hundreds of voters were assigned the same house address even after verification, he said, “This is the notional numbering system for giving addresses which we have followed for years.”

This is not true. In the absence of a registered address, ECI assigns a notional number as an address to each family at one dwelling. CEC Gyanesh Kumar had, in fact, clarified this to the press when the controversy around fake addresses first erupted in August. He had claimed that election officials had been duly briefed on this method, after which the voters would appear on the new voter list in a “completely new way”.

We investigated the Pipra Electoral Officer’s claim that bogus voters had been purged. We found 1,512 voters in Pipra who hold duplicate voter IDs with identical demographic details and ages.

For example, 21-year-old Ankit Kumar has two voter IDs on Pipra’s final voter list. Against both his IDs, his house number is 111, and his father’s name is Vinod Ram. One of his voter IDs is registered at booth 338 and another at adjoining booth 339.

Dubious Duplicates

Across 243 assembly constituencies, we found 14.35 lakh voters holding two or more voter IDs with perfect matches for all demographics, and the age difference on their duplicate IDs being between 0-5 years. Of these, 3.4 lakh cases in the final list are the most alarming, where all details, including ages, are an exact match.

In our earlier investigation into the draft list, through data analysis and ground check, we had found thousands of duplicate Voter IDs, where even their photos were the same.

We revisited one such case in the Jale assembly constituency. Thirty-two-year-old Mithilesh Kumar had found himself registered at two addresses on the draft list. He continues to be on both in the final as well. This, even after the booth-level officers had become aware of the error.

In Gopalpur assembly constituency in Bhagalpur district, at booth 65, there lives 33-year-old Gulshan Kumar. With all the same details, he, like three other people, continues to hold duplicate voter IDs in the final list. Check the image below. 

Dead Voters Still on the Voter List

In Muzaffarpur city, Ward Councilor Shanat Kumar made repeated attempts to remove his deceased parents, Uma Devi and Chandramani Shahi, from the voter list. His parents had passed away several years ago, but he had found their names listed on the draft list. Shanat tried repeatedly to get their names deleted during the second leg of the SIR. He failed. His dead parents are now voters on the final list as well.

“I am a ward councillor and have repeatedly requested the deletion of more than ten names from my booth, along with my parents. We even took the BLO along and went around to verify, but all the names in the final list remain the same. After the first draft list, there was hope that improvements would be made, but what can be done now? The entire work was done in a hurry, and as a result, this has happened,” he told us. He said he was aware of such dead voters remaining on the final list at several booths.

This is the state of ECI’s ‘purified’ final voter list of Bihar.

ECI has announced the dates for elections in Bihar based on this list and is now preparing to unleash the SIR across the country.

Courtesy: https://www.reporters-collective.in

The post The Mess, called ECI’s Final Voter List for Bihar appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The scale and nature of the deletions, and the process itself, have left behind a trail of unanswered questions and unresolved concerns.

Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in #Bihar Successfully Completed#ECI thanks all the Electors of Bihar for making this exercise a Grand Success

Final Electoral Roll published today; includes nearly 7.42 crore electors

Read in detail: https://t.co/DQEaXv9njk pic.twitter.com/trQtBGKkVl

— Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) September 30, 2025

June 24 order set off political uproar over citizenship checks and allegations of targeted deletions

The decision to undertake a state-wide SIR—Bihar’s first in 22 years—was made public on June 24 and implemented the very next day. Unlike routine summary revisions, this was a house-to-house (H2H) enumeration requiring fresh verification of each of the nearly 8 crore electors in the state. Most notably, voters registered after 2003 were required to furnish documents proving their eligibility, including proof of Indian citizenship—a demand that quickly drew political fire.

What made the process more controversial was the nature of documentation sought. Electors were asked to provide either their own or their parents’ place and date of birth, in line with the Citizenship Act, 1955. Initially, only 11 forms of documentary proof were accepted, notably excluding commonly held IDs like Aadhaar or existing Voter ID cards. Opposition parties alleged that this marked a break from precedent and could function as a de facto citizenship test aimed at voter suppression.

Supreme Court steps in, Aadhaar added as 12th document

A series of petitions challenging the SIR’s legal validity soon reached the Supreme Court, with petitioners arguing that the ECI was exceeding its constitutional mandate and risking large-scale disenfranchisement. The ECI defended the move, citing Article 326, which limits voting rights to Indian citizens aged 18 and above.

While the Court did not stay the process, it issued an interim order directing the ECI to include Aadhaar as a “12th document” to establish identity, though it maintained that Aadhaar could not be used as proof of citizenship. This intervention marginally softened the documentation requirement but did not reverse the structural burdens placed on millions of voters.

Draft roll reveals massive deletion: 65 lakh names dropped in draft roll

On August 1, the draft roll revealed the first concrete outcome of the SIR, the voter list had shrunk to 7.24 crore names—a deletion of 65 lakh names, or 8.2% of the total electorate, compared to the June baseline. The scale of the cuts triggered immediate outcry.

According to data shared by the Chief Electoral Officer’s office, these deletions broke down into three broad categories, 22 lakh names were struck off due to death, 36 lakh for permanent migration or absence from the registered address, and 7 lakh due to duplication (electors already enrolled elsewhere).

Ahead of the draft’s publication, ECI officials shared booth-wise deletion lists with political parties to allow for verification, though parties continued to express scepticism about the accuracy and fairness of the process.

Final tally: 21.53 lakh names added, but net loss remains high

The period following the draft roll saw a window (From August 1 to September 30) for citizens & political parties to file claims & objections, and applications for new voter addition.

In this final phase, 21.53 lakh voters were added through Form 6 applications, while 3.66 lakh more names were deleted. This brought the final tally to approximately 7.42 crore voters, a net reduction of 47 lakh names since June 24. Among the final deletions, over 2 lakh were due to migration, 60,000 to death, and around 80,000 were duplicates.

Citizenship verification push yields almost no “Foreign” voter removals

As per ECI the stated goal of the SIR included cleansing the rolls of ineligible or non-citizen voters, official data suggests that citizenship status had little to do with the deletions. According to sources in the CEO’s office, more than 99% of the 68.6 lakh total deletions (across draft and final rolls) were due to death, migration, or duplication. Only a negligible fraction, if any, were removed on the basis of foreign nationality, as the Indian Express reported.

This outcome raises serious questions about the necessity of placing such a high bar of documentation on millions of voters—especially in a state headed for elections—when the underlying rationale was not reflected in the final data.

A silent setback: drop in female voter share

Another outcome of the revision, though not officially detailed by the ECI, has emerged through internal data, a decline in the share of women voters. In January 2025, women accounted for 47.75% of the electorate. Post-SIR, that figure has reportedly dropped to 47.15%. This decline, though numerically modest, is politically and socially significant—particularly in a state where gender disparities in electoral participation have historically been closely watched.

However, the final publication of the rolls on September 30 does not mark the end of the process. Eligible voters who remain excluded can still apply for inclusion until ten days before the last date for filing election nominations. Meanwhile, voters dissatisfied with their deletion or any other entry can appeal under Section 24 of the Representation of the People Act, first to the District Magistrate and then to the Chief Electoral Officer.

Crucially, the Supreme Court is yet to hear final arguments in the cases challenging the SIR itself. The judgment, when it arrives, may set a precedent for the ECI’s future conduct—particularly as the Commission is reportedly considering similar SIR exercises in other states.

The numbers are final for now, but the questions they raise—from legal authority and procedural fairness to the real purpose and political timing of the revision—remain very much open.

Related:

89 lakh complaints of irregularities during Bihar SIR were rejected by ECI: Congress

In Bihar 3 lakh electors served with doubtful citizen notices by Election Commission

Bihar SIR: New elector applications doubled in just 2 days, showing a 96.6% increase

The post Bihar SIR: final voter list sees 47 lakh names removed, total electorate drops to 7.42 crore appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This sweeping deletion effort, aimed at cleaning the rolls of ineligible, duplicate, or deceased voters, has left citizens and observers closely watching what follows. The official process for claims and objections began on August 1, giving voters a 30-day window to verify or challenge their status.

Now, 13 days into that window, an emerging picture is starting to take shape—one marked by rapid new additions, minimal corrections, and a notable silence from political stakeholders.

65 lakh deletions across 243 constituencies

The deletions cut across all 243 assembly constituencies in Bihar, averaging 26,748 names removed per constituency. While the ECI has not detailed the methodology behind each deletion, reports indicate that no individual notice or prior inquiry was issued in such cases. Instead, the burden of proof shifted to voters themselves—many of whom may not yet know their names are missing.

This procedural shift means that reinstatement requires affected voters to proactively file a claim or objection through the official process. But so far, that response has been minimal.

Claims and objections: 0.2% response so far

Between August 1 and August 13, only 17,665 claims and objections were filed statewide—0.2% of the total deletions. Put differently, over 99.8% of the 65 lakh voters removed have not had their deletions challenged.

Despite an uptick in the second week, daily claims and objections have struggled to cross even 3,700 on the best-performing day, August 13. In contrast, several earlier days saw daily new voter additions well above 8,000.

New additions surge: 74,525 applications filed

In contrast to the low correction rate, the number of new voter applications has shown strong and consistent growth. Over the same 13-day period, the ECI recorded 74,525 Form 6 submissions—applications to register new voters, typically youth turning 18 or first-time registrants.

The application rate accelerated steadily after the first two days:

• August 3: 1,151 new applicants
• August 6: 4,272 in one day
• August 8: 8,543 in one day
• August 13: 10,934—the highest single-day tally

This means that for every one claim or objection filed, the system processed more than four new voter applications.

Average of 306 voters added per seat

The cumulative total of 74,525 new applications averages out to 306 voters added per assembly seat. This figure, while mathematically straightforward, reveals a consistent spread of new additions across the state—mirroring the earlier deletion distribution of approximately 26,748 per constituency.

The 306-per-seat figure presents a state-wide average that has drawn interest in electoral circles. Whether this reflects organic participation, administrative uniformity, or structured outreach remains a matter for observation, but the numbers alone suggest a consistent tempo in new voter addition across regions.

Political parties stay silent in claims process

While opposition parties have mounted strong public protests against the SIR process—organising protests and accusing the ECI of “vote theft”—their procedural actions tell a different story. Despite challenging the process in the Supreme Court, no political party filed a single claim or objection between August 1 and 13, according to ECI records.

This procedural inaction may be a strategic choice to seek the process’s annulment, but it has left the ongoing voter list revision unopposed by key stakeholders. Consequently, formal corrections are being pursued almost exclusively by individual citizens at a very low rate, tilting the balance of activity overwhelmingly toward new additions rather than restoring the removed names.

A changed electorate in the making

With 65 lakh names removed, 74,525 new added, and fewer than 18,000 corrections filed, Bihar’s draft electoral roll is undergoing a fundamental reshaping. As the September 30 deadline for final publication of the rolls approaches, the question is less about intent and more about impact; who remains, who is added, and who is still missing?

The window for filing objections and making claims remains open, and the coming days will determine whether the current trends hold—or shift with public awareness and outreach.

At a glance: numbers that define the revision

• Names deleted from draft electoral rolls: 65,00,000
• Claims and objections received (Aug 1–13): 17,665
• % of deletions challenged: 0.272%
• % unchallenged deletions: 99.728%
• New voter applications received (Form 6) till August 13: 74,525
• Average new voters per constituency: 306
• Claims/objections filed by political parties: 0

Numbers without noise

With more than 99.8% of deletions remaining unchallenged, and a rapidly growing list of new applicants, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is steadily altering Bihar’s voter base. No accusations, no official controversies—just a quiet but measurable shift captured in daily numbers.

As the process continues toward finalisation, the real test may lie not only in courtrooms or press conferences—but in how many citizens take steps to verify their presence, assert their status, and claim their vote.

Related

Vote for Democracy: Statistical, legal and procedural irregularities dot Bihar’s controversial SIR process

Bihar SIR: 65 Lakh electors flagged for deletion, SC said “if there is mass exclusion, we will immediately step in”

ECI to SC: Voter ID insufficient for Bihar roll, defends citizenship verification power

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Since end July 25 and after August 1, when the ECI published the draft first list excluding a staggering 65 lakh voters, the VFD team of experts and legal analysts have scrutinised the ECI’s own data and come up with startlingly inconsistent hike periods of deletions.

VFD released this data today through a Facebook live event. The entire report and power point presentation may be viewed here.

Vote for Democracy: Key findings from the analysis of ECI data

1. Legally unsanctioned process: The term Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has no legal or statutory basis under existing electoral laws. The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 only permits summary, intensive, or partial revisions. The ECI not only devised a new nomenclature but also violated Rule 8 by introducing non-standard enumeration forms and failing to provide receipts or duplicate copies to electors, compromising basic procedural safeguards.
2. Statistical irregularities and data “jugglery”: Between July 14 and July 25, deletion categories such as “deceased,” “permanently shifted,” and “untraceable” showed sudden, exponential jumps that defy logical or statistical explanation:

• Unprecedented one-day spike in “deceased” voters: A staggering 2, 11, 462 electors (18,66,869 – 16,55,407) are claimed to have been found dead over just one day, between July 21 and July 22, 2025.
• Mass constituency-level removals in over one day: Worse, 870 electors on an average per constituency have been removed over one day, between July 21 and July 22. This makes the electors removed per constituency in that period at 2,11,462. Is this part of a genuine clean-up process or a pre-determined mass deletion?
• Five-day surge in “deceased” category: During the last five days of the SIR process, July 21 to July 25, the ECI has magically raised the number of dead electors from 16,55,407 on July 21, 2025 to a significant 22 lakh dead voters, four days later, on July 25. Thus, we see a hike of deletions in this category at 5,44,593 in 243 constituencies (which is a figure that is 2,241 dead electors per constituency).
• Sharp three-day escalation in “permanently shifted” voters: The hike in the mass deletions under the head “permanently shifted” is too high to be digested and the same in the last three days is 15,24,769 for all the 243 constituencies, and this turns out to be 6,275 per constituency on an average. Thus, the last three days have been the most marked deletion days (!!!) for the ECI’s Bihar SIR process where 8,516 electors have been removed from each of the state’s 243 constituencies.
• Deletions exceeding forms processed: All this already points to what amounts to a jugglery in data science. Why? Because the huge surge in the number of “dead” and “permanently shifted” voters is almost double the number of the electors’ forms digitalised in those very hours! Between July 23 and July 25, the number of digitised electors increased from 7.17 crore to 7.23 crore. Concurrently, the total count of deceased and permanently shifted voters rose from 48 lakh to 57 lakh, an increase of approximately 9 lakh!
• Disappearance of “multiple registration” category: Another ECI-driven miracle is that in this same period i.e., July 23 to 25, there was not even a single such elector who exists in the “registered at more than one place” category! Observation: The ECI appeared to be in a hurry over the last days of the SIR exercise to complete the first phase of pre-determined and desired number of deletions.

Such anomalies, where deletions exceed even the number of forms received, suggest possible manipulation of data to meet a pre-decided quota of deletions.

3. Opacity and aggregation of deletion data: On July 23, the ECI replaced category-wise reporting with “Merged Data”, collapsing separate categories (e.g., deceased, shifted, untraceable) into one opaque classification: “Electors not found at their addresses.” This intentional data obfuscation came just as deletion figures accelerated, reaching 65 lakh by July 27.
4. Disproportionate impact in key districts: Deletion rates vary wildly across districts, with Gopalganj (15.10%), Purnia (12.08%), Kishanganj (11.82%), and Madhubani (10.44%) among the worst affected—well above the state average of 8.31%. These districts are known for marginalised populations, migrant workers, and minority communities, raising fears of targeted disenfranchisement.
5. Democratic and legal concerns:
   • The Supreme Court, in its July 29 hearing, refused to stay the publication of the draft rolls but cautioned that it would intervene if “mass exclusion” was proven.
   • Petitioners, including ADR, have pointed out that the ECI has failed to publish names of those marked for deletion, denying voters the opportunity to file claims or objections.
   • The burden of proof has effectively been shifted onto voters to defend their inclusion, a reversal of the ECI’s constitutional obligation to ensure due process.

Broader implications for electoral democracy
The ECI claims that no deletion occurs without a prior notice and hearing. However, with 65 lakh deletions across 243 constituencies, this would mean conducting an average of 26,748 hearings per constituency within a month—a logistical impossibility that casts serious doubt on procedural compliance.

Further, many of the categories used for deletions, such as “untraceable” or “permanently shifted”, are highly vulnerable to subjective assessment, especially given the scale and speed of the deletions. The introduction of new deletion categories mid-way, rapid statistical jumps, and the disappearance of disaggregated data suggest a process driven by pre-determined numerical targets, not genuine verification.

Call for transparency and legal scrutiny
Vote for Democracy (VFD) and allied experts and researchers are calling for the ECI to immediately release:

• The complete list of deleted voters with reasons for deletion.
• Documentary proof backing each deletion, as required by law.
• A clear breakdown of deletion categories per constituency.

With Supreme Court hearings set for August 12 and 13, the credibility of Bihar’s electoral process now hinges on whether these deletions withstand judicial scrutiny and public transparency. Anything less risks undermining the very foundation of the right to vote in India.

The experts involved with the VFD are Dr Pyara Lal Garg, Former Dean, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh, MG Devasahayam, IAS (Retd), Convenor, Forum for Electoral Integrity & Coordinator, Citizens Commission on Elections,  Madhav Deshpande, Computer Science Expert over four decades and a former consultant to the Obama administration. Teesta Setalvad & Dolphy D’Souza are Co-Convenors of Vote for Democracy[1]

The Power Point presentation may also be viewed here:

[1] Vote for Democracy (VFD) is a Maharashtra-level citizens’ platform of individuals and organisations formed in 2023 to ensure Voter registration, Voter Awareness, and a Hate-Free Poll where Accountability & Transparency is key. Teesta Setalvad and Dolphy D’Souza are Co-Convenors and for this report a slew of legal researchers and activists contributed to the final product, this Report.

Related:

Bihar SIR: 65 Lakh electors flagged for deletion, SC said “if there is mass exclusion, we will immediately step in”

ECI to SC: Voter ID insufficient for Bihar roll, defends citizenship verification power

Punjab University’s former dean writes to CJI: Bihar SIR threatens democracy, alleges ECI overreach & voter disenfranchisement

Non-Electors Within Electors: ECI reports over 61 lakh potential exclusions

The post Vote for Democracy: Statistical, legal and procedural irregularities dot Bihar’s controversial SIR process appeared first on SabrangIndia.

This inexplicable overnight explosion in a critical voter category, coupled with the overall increase in electors’ data marked for deletion from 35 lakh to 56 lakh in the same period (July 14 to July 23, 2025), unless the contrary proved.

A skyrocketing surge in just 24 hours

The initial phase of the SIR, as reported by the ECI on July 14, indicated that out of Bihar’s total 7,89,69,844 electors, enumeration forms from 6,60,67,208 individuals, or 83.66%, had been successfully collected. At that juncture, the ECI had identified specific categories for deletion, 1.59% of electors were found to be deceased, 2.2% had permanently shifted residence, and 0.73% were identified as having multiple entries. This initial accounting suggested that approximately 88.18% of the electorate was either verified or categorised for deletion based on these criteria.

The figures emerging from the SIR are indeed startling, particularly the overnight jump in “untraceable electors.”

However, subsequent data releases unveiled a concerning volatility. On July 22, the ECI reported 11,484 “untraceable electors.” In an astonishing and unexplained leap, this figure surged to a staggering 100,000 by July 23 – an astronomical increase of approximately 809% within a mere 24 hours. This sudden surge in a highly problematic category of voters has become a central point of contention, raising serious questions about the methodologies and consistency of data collection and classification during the SIR.

Furthermore, the overall number of electors marked for deletion also witnessed a significant escalation. On July 22, with voter coverage reportedly at 97.30%, the count of electors flagged for deletion stood at 52 lakh (5.2 million). Yet, by July 23, with coverage marginally increasing to 98.01%, this figure jumped to 56 lakh (5.6 million). This implies that an additional 3 lakh (300,000) voters were identified for deletion in just a single day.

The sheer magnitude and rapid rate of these proposed deletions, particularly in the final stages of the revision, are fuelling a suspicion that the SIR may extend beyond a routine clean-up, potentially impacting the democratic rights of a significant portion of Bihar’s electorate.

The ECI’s justification and the underlying concerns

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is currently undertaking a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, its first in 22 years, which it defends as crucial for maintaining the “purity of elections.” This exercise aims to remove deceased voters, permanent migrants, and duplicate entries, with ECI data as of July 23 showing 56 lakh electors identified for deletion.

Questions of timing and documentary requirements

However, this SIR has ignited a firestorm of criticism from opposition parties and civil society groups, who allege it’s a politically motivated attempt to disenfranchise marginalised communities. Their concerns are multi-layered, beginning with the highly suspect timing of the SIR just months before the Bihar assembly elections, which critics argue should have been conducted well in advance to avoid any perception of impropriety.

ALARMING DISCREPANCIES

Two glaring red flags have emerged from the Special Intensive Revision of the voter list in Bihar:

On 22nd July, the number of untraceable electors stood at 11,484. By 23rd July, that number suddenly exploded to 1 LAKH
At 88.18% voter… pic.twitter.com/3icF2UkZZt

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) July 24, 2025

Furthermore, the methodology and documentary requirements have drawn fire; despite the ECI’s claim that Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards are not mandatory, their limited use for identity verification raises worries for poor and migrant workers who often lack readily available official documentation. This also shifts the burden of proof onto individual citizens, a challenging process for those with limited literacy or resources, issues currently being heard by the Supreme Court.

Opposition may boycott Bihar poll, says Tejashwi Yadav

In a stunning declaration Thursday, July 24, RJD leader, Tejaswi Yadav again alleged the Election Commission is for “working at the behest of BJP and ruling NDA” and might boycott the polls after taking feedback from people and alliance partners. Dramatically, he, the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, has indicated that Opposition parties might boycott upcoming State Assembly elections in Bihar after taking feedback from people and our alliance partners, reports The Hindu.

“We will see what people want and what our allies say. If the state polls are conducted in a partial and manipulative manner where it is already decided who would win what number of seats, what is the use of conducting such an election? We may consider boycotting the upcoming state assembly elections in Bihar after taking feedback from people and our (alliance) partners”, Mr Yadav, who is from the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal, told a news agency on Wednesday (July 23, 2025).

Earlier in the day on July 23, there was a verbal duel between ruling NDA and Opposition mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) legislators on the third day of monsoon session of the Bihar Assembly over the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in the State. Thereafter, while addressing media persons, Mr. Yadav alleged the Election Commission for “working at the behest of BJP and ruling NDA” and claimed that “the possibility of deletion of 50-80 lakh voters from the voter list is alarming”.

“If we have so many deletions from the voters list, it is clear that there would be 3,000-4,000 names of voters who would be struck off from the electoral roll on each booth of the state and this is the conspiracy of the NDA to get favourable results in the poll,” alleged Mr. Yadav.

“If they (NDA) want to win elections through fraudulent means, then what is the point in conducting elections? Chunav mat karwao (don’t hold the elections),” he quipped while speaking to the reporters.

“We’ll consult our (alliance) partners and people before taking a final decision on this (boycotting the poll),” he added.

The Indian National Congress (INC), an ally also came out in support of RJD on the issue. “Yes, we’ll seriously discuss the issue (of boycotting the poll)… we could join any form of protest. If voters are denied their franchise, what remains in a democratic set-up of the country?” asked senior state Congress leader and legislator party leader in the State Assembly, Shakeel Ahmad Khan.

The ruling party (JD-U) leader and party spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, however, slammed Mr. Yadav for the “poll boycott threat”. “His (poll) boycott threat shows sheer desperation and hopelessness. Has he (Mr Yadav) forgotten that the people of the state had limited his party (RJD) to just four seats in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2024?”, said Mr. Kumar.

The Opposition mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) leaders are expected to “take a final call on poll boycott in days to come”, the other leaders of mahagathbandhan told The Hindu over a phone call.

“Possibly, after the ongoing monsoon session of the state legislature, which is scheduled to be concluded tomorrow on July 25,” said one of the senior Left party leaders while seeking anonymity. The three Left Parties — the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) and the Communist Party of India-Marxists-Leninist (CPI-ML) — are part of the Opposition mahagathbandhan in the State.

The State Assembly elections in Bihar are due in October-November later this year.

Bihar’s SIR: Impractical deadlines and opaque deletions

The remarkably short deadline for form submission, July 25, 2025, is deemed impractical, especially for Bihar’s significant migrant population, with 15 lakh voters yet to submit forms, risking the exclusion of legitimate voters due to logistical hurdles or lack of awareness, despite online and WhatsApp options. Finally, deep concerns persist regarding the opacity of the deletion process itself. The sheer volume of proposed deletions and limited time for verification, even with lists shared with political party-nominated Booth Level Agents, raise serious doubts about the thoroughness and fairness of the process, fuelling fears of erroneous deletions that could disproportionately impact specific demographic groups.

ECI’s stance on voter IDs and citizenship verification in court

he ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls has been further complicated by the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) recent affidavit to the Supreme Court. Filed on July 21, 2025, the ECI, through Deputy Election Commissioner Sanjay Kumar, stated that Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPICs/Voter IDs) cannot be considered primary documents for new entries, categorising the SIR as a “de novo revision process.” While acknowledging Aadhaar’s utility for identification, the ECI reiterated it’s not a standalone proof of eligibility or citizenship. Furthermore, the ECI defended its right to verify citizenship, citing its constitutional mandate under Article 326 and Sections 16 and 19 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, to ensure only citizens are registered.

Divergence from Supreme Court’s concern and ground realities

This stance directly challenges the Supreme Court’s July 10, 2025, observation that EPICs, Aadhaar, and ration cards should be considered valid. The ECI justified excluding ration cards due to “widespread prevalence of fraudulent cards.”

This significant deletion rate, coupled with the ECI’s stringent documentary requirements and its assertion of citizenship verification powers, has fuelled concerns from opposition parties and civil society about potential widespread disenfranchisement, particularly of marginalised sections. Many reports have also reported ground-level procedural flaws. The next Supreme Court hearing on July 28, 2025, will be crucial in addressing these contentious issues.

Related

ECI to SC: Voter ID insufficient for Bihar roll, defends citizenship verification power

SC: ECI’s ‘wisdom’ on revision of electoral rolls challenged, does a disenfranchisement crisis loom over Bihar, with thousands being declared ‘‘D’ (doubtful) voters?

Bihar:  SC signals that ECI should consider Aadhaar, EPIC (Voter ID card) & Ration card for electoral roll revision 

The post Bihar’s untraceable electors spiral by 809% in just one day, ECI reports 1 lakh ‘missing’, 15 lakh Bihar voters yet to submit forms appeared first on SabrangIndia.