Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata

Kolkata, Nov 27: The Election Commission has flagged a significant discrepancy in West Bengal’s electoral rolls, with nearly 26 lakh voters’ names not matching records from the 2002 voter list, officials said on Wednesday.

The irregularities were detected after the state’s latest voter list was compared with lists prepared across various states between 2002 and 2006 during the previous Special Summary Revision (SIR) exercise. More than six crore enumeration forms in West Bengal had been digitised by Wednesday afternoon as part of the ongoing SIR process.

“Once digitised, these forms are brought under the mapping procedure, where they are matched against the previous SIR records. Initial findings show that the names of around 26 lakh voters in the state cannot yet be reconciled with the data from the last SIR cycle,” an EC official told PTI. He added that the figure may rise further as the digitisation continues.

In the electoral context, “mapping” refers to cross-verifying the latest published voter list with the SIR rolls compiled in 2002. This year, the mapping process has also included voter lists from other states to ensure a more comprehensive and accurate verification.

The Election Commission clarified that a mismatch in the mapping exercise does not imply automatic removal of voters from the final electoral roll.