SIR hearings conclude in Bengal, final voter rolls due Feb 28 ahead of Assembly polls

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of electoral rolls in West Bengal has entered its final stage, with hearings for “logical discrepancy” cases concluding across the state on Saturday. The Election Commission of India has scheduled the publication of the final electoral rolls on February 28 , officials said.

The SIR exercise, which began on December 27 , was undertaken to ensure accuracy and integrity of voter lists ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections , expected to be held in March–April . The current Assembly’s term ends in early May 2026, making it mandatory for elections to be completed before that.

The hearings addressed issues such as omissions, duplicate entries, spelling errors in names, incorrect addresses, names of deceased voters, and voters who had permanently shifted. Camps were organised in schools, club rooms and administrative buildings across the state to give affected voters an opportunity to clarify discrepancies by submitting documents.

During the enumeration process, around 58 lakh names were initially identified as fit for deletion from the draft electoral rolls published in December, as they were marked deceased, duplicated, or shifted. Election officials said a large number of those flagged failed to appear for hearings despite repeated notices.

“Poll officials will now scrutinise documents till February 21 , after which the final electoral rolls will be published on February 28,” a senior official said, adding that any pending data from Assistant Electoral Registration Officers must be uploaded by Monday.

The last date for publishing the final rolls was originally February 14, but was later extended by the Election Commission to allow additional time for verification. While the EC has not yet disclosed the final number of names to be excluded, officials indicated that exclusions would be based strictly on verification outcomes and non-response to notices.

The Election Commission clarified that the SIR exercise is a routine administrative process conducted periodically across states to clean and update voter lists before major elections. It is aimed at ensuring that only eligible voters are included and that each voter is registered only once, officials said.

The final electoral rolls will serve as the basis for voting in the upcoming Assembly elections, which are expected to be announced by the Election Commission in the coming weeks.