Bengal SIR: Names from doctor to policeman missing after investigation

Bureau Prayagraj- In the SIR process of voter list in West Bengal, it was claimed that doubts would be removed after adjudication i.e. investigation, but due to this, the situation has become more complicated. There are reports of names of former High Court judges, BLOs, doctors, lawyers and policemen being struck off under adjudication.

In the case of deletion of names of former High Court judges, their names may have been added when there was a dispute, but is it so in other cases? Are the people whose names have been struck off getting a chance to be heard in the tribunal? If the tribunal has not been formed yet, won’t lakhs of people be deprived of voter lists and the right to vote?

These questions are being raised because there have been cases of deletion of names of voters who were under adjudication on a large scale in the state. A total of more than 60 lakh cases in the state were under ‘under adjudication’ i.e. investigation. The team of 705 judicial officers has decided 37 lakh cases so far. Two supplementary lists have been released.

The Election Commission has not clarified how many names have been removed so far, but according to media reports, more than 15 lakh names have been removed across the state so far. The highest number of cases in the state were under investigation in Murshidabad at 11 lakh and Malda at 8.28 lakh.

After the Supreme Court order, 19 tribunals were to be formed, which will cover 23 districts, but they have not been fully setup yet. Affected people are saying that there is very little time left. As the last date of nomination is near, lakhs of true voters may be left out of the elections.

In many villages people are talking about boycotting the elections until these cases are heard. The Election Commission says the process is to remove duplicate, dead, moved or doubtful entries. But people living in rural areas are claiming that despite providing the documents, their names were struck off without any reason. This issue is very hot before the West Bengal Assembly elections 2026.