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The deletions were made after voters were found to have died, moved out of the state or failed to submit enumeration forms

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The Election Commission of India on Tuesday released draft electoral rolls for West Bengal following a special intensive revision (SIR), removing more than 5.8 million names, the Press Trust of India reported.

The deletions were made after voters were found to have died, moved out of the state or failed to submit enumeration forms, according to officials.

After the revision, West Bengal’s voter list stands at 70,816,631 names, down from 76,637,529 previously, The Hindu reported.

Voters can check their status on the Election Commission of India’s website at eci.gov.in or on the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer’s portal, ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in. Physical copies of the draft rolls will also be available with booth-level officers, who have been instructed to be present at polling stations on the day of publication.

Digital versions have been shared with representatives of the state’s eight recognised political parties.

The Election Commission said the deletions include names that appeared in the January 2025 rolls but were excluded from the draft lists prepared after the revision exercise conducted between Nov. 4 and Dec. 11, PTI reported.

Data released last week by the chief electoral officer’s office showed that about 2.41 million voters were marked as dead, 1.98 million as permanently shifted and 1.22 million as missing or untraceable at their registered addresses.

Another 138,000 voters were identified as having duplicate entries, 180,000 were classified as “ghost” voters, and more than 57,000 names were removed due to other discrepancies detected during enumeration.

The Election Commission said the deletions are provisional and that voters can file objections if their names have been removed from the draft rolls.

West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Election Commission of a “joint conspiracy,” saying that the prospect of “hearings for nearly two crore voters” was intended to intimidate citizens, PTI reported.

“If anyone dares to snatch away Bengal’s democratic rights, Bengal will never stay silent,” the party said on social media. “We will resist, we will fight, and we will defeat Bangla-Birodhi BJP.”

West Bengal is expected to hold assembly elections in the first half of 2026.

The special intensive revision of electoral rolls is also being carried out in 11 other states and federal territories. In Bihar, where the exercise was completed ahead of assembly elections in November, at least 4.7 million voters were excluded from the final rolls published on Sept. 30.

The Bihar revision drew criticism over fears that eligible voters could be removed, prompting several petitioners to approach the Supreme Court.