By Dr. Gyan Pathak
As the Election Commission of India started sending notices to unmapped voters to appear before the officials for hearing from December 27, 2025, tensions in West Bengal have considerably escalated. There are about 32 lakh voters in this category, who are facing a prospect of deletion from the final voter list. These are in addition to already deleted 58.2 lakh voters from the Draft Electoral Rolls released on December 16, 2025.
It should be noted that the BJP has been claiming for quite some time that SIR would purge about 1.5 crore “bogus” voters from the electoral roll of West Bengal. Referring to this, the TMC supremo and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee accused Election Commission on December 22 while addressing over 14,000 TMC booth-level agents at Netaji Indoor Stadium that they are to delete names of 1.5 crore voters.
The prospect of deletion of lakhs of unmapped names of voters has become a reality who are being called in the first phase of hearing under SIR. Notices were sent to about 10 lakh such unmapped voters on Monday, December 21, who could not link their names with those of family members in the 2002 electoral rolls. Notices to another 22 lakh voters will be send within couple of days. In the enumeration phase 31,68,424 unmapped voters were identified. Hearing in their cases will be conducted at district magistrates, sub-divisional officers, various government’s departments, and also in school and colleges specified for this purpose.
The matters do not end here, since it is only the first phase of verification. Voters having other logical discrepancies will be taken in the next phase, officials of the State Election Commission have been quoted saying. Details guidelines have been sought from the Election Commission of India, and as per the plan each case, for unmapped voters and for the voters having discrepancies will be scrutinized under micro-observers, who will be trained on December 24.
Though the micro-observers will be from the state according to officials, the ruling TMC is not relying on them. Even CM Mamata Banerjee has alleged in while addressing the TMC booth level workers in Kolkata on December 22, alleged that the micro-observers lack knowledge of the local Bengali language. CM Mamata Banerjee has also asked BLAs of her party to keep track of micro-observers appointed by ECI, who are Central Government employees.
“Many Central Government employees have been appointed without consulting the State. Keep track of their appointments, departments, and residences. I will cooperate with them, but I want details. The Election Commission is doing it intentionally,” Mamata alleged.
CM Mamata Banerjee has alleged gross errors in the draft electoral rolls and directed her party’s BLAs to ensure that no genuine voter is deleted from the rolls. She said that thousands of legitimate voters have found their names deleted and questioned how corrections can be made within a short span of time.
TMC supremo said that people who changed addresses within the same neighbourhood and women wo got married have found their names deleted from the voter list. She alleged, The Election Commission is working only as per the directions of the BJP. There are gross errors in mapping of voters during the first enumeration phase of the SIR exercise in the State. The exercise is riddled with blunders from A to Z.”
Mamata Banerjee is the second leader from the opposition after Congress Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who has directly and most sharply attacked the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. She said that EC has changed SIR rules 22-24 times adding, “That means you are not sure yourself. He is carrying out orders from the useless home minister.”
TMC supremo also made sharp attack on the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, “He is controlling everything, not the PM …He controls the country. … If rioters control the country, what can we expect?”
CM Mamata Banerjee also said, “The voters’ list is being changed according to instructions from the BJP office. I have heard there is a BJP agent in the EC’s Office. The entire list is being made by BJP workers. I haven’t seen such shameless Chief Election Commissioner.”
As for mapping voters, CM Mamata alleged that constituencies underwent delimitation after the 2002 voter list that has been made the basis of the current SIR process. She asked, “Did you even consider the delimitation after 2002? How will the address of a voter remain the same as in 2002 when his ward has changed?… Many voters have their constituencies changed. … mapping process was incorrect and it was a blunder.”
SIR process has clearly been problematic and 46 lives have been lost so far. Who is responsible for this, CM Mamata has asked. Tensions at personal and political levels are mounting in West Bengal, and political clashes have been reported from several parts of the state. (IPA Service)
