The Election Commission of India has deployed four additional Special Roll Observers (SROs) in West Bengal to guarantee seamless execution of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
This step seeks to enhance public confidence and streamline SIR operations amid concerns over voter list accuracy.
Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar praised ECI’s decision, stating, “The Election Commission is striving for a flawless voter list. If more officers are needed, they should appoint them too.”
The Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government has repeatedly flagged major irregularities in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Earlier, TMC linked an Assistant Electoral Registration Officer’s (AERO) resignation in the state as hard evidence of deep flaws within the Election Commission’s own processes.
In a post on X, the TMC wrote, “When @ECISVEEP’s own officers resign, the SIR scam stands exposed! And this is no longer a political charge. This is now an indictment from within the Election Commission itself. An AERO has resigned, stating in black and white that he can no longer participate in the ongoing SIR because the process is logically flawed, administratively dishonest, and morally indefensible.”
The Trinamool Congress highlighted the January 8, 2026, resignation letter of an Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) from Bagnan Assembly Constituency in Uluberia, Howrah district.
In his letter to the Electoral Registration Officer, the AERO stated he could no longer continue in the role due to identified “Logical Discrepancies” within the AERO login system.
The resigning officer detailed in his letter that “Logical discrepancies appeared in the BLO apps due to sporadic errors in converting the 2002 Electoral Roll PDF (West Bengal’s last SIR) to CSV,” as admitted by the Additional Chief Electoral Officer.
The letter further noted that 2002 electoral roll name spellings were treated as untouchable—ignoring subsequent Form 8 corrections per ECI rules, triggering rampant father-name mismatches during “Progeny Mapping.”
The officer highlighted that “in many cases, the age and sex of 2002 names were flawed,” later corrected through due process but ignored under the current SIR process.
He further flagged serious data issues, noting, “In many cases, voter names appeared as ‘Ya’. In India, hardly anybody bears such names.”
Over 58.2 lakh names were deleted during the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal.
The Election Commission published the draft voter list on December 16, with claims and objections open until January 15, 2026. The final electoral roll will follow on February 14, 2026.
