The Election Commission on Tuesday published the draft list of voters under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.
Voters can check their name by visiting the Commission's website and selecting the state, district and constituency. There are options to search using the Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number or by searching the relative’s name.
The other option to search your name is by using the ECI mobile app, which is available on the Google Play Store and Apple Store. Once the page opens, go to the option of 'Search Your Name in Voter List'. Your EPIC number will appear if the mobile number is linked to the voter ID.
The draft list is expected to include around 7.6 crore voters. The EC had stated that several names would be deleted from the list if not found to be genuine. Around 58 lakh enumeration forms have been marked as 'uncollectable', and these names are likely to be deleted from the SIR list.
There have been fears of several names being left out of the draft voter list, especially those of the Hindu and Muslim minority immigrants from Bangladesh, whose documents were not valid for the draft SIR list. Many voters who did not have their names or relatives' names in the 2002 draft list, too, fear that they may be excluded from the 2025 draft voter list.
What to do if your name is missing
What will happen to those whose names do not appear on the 2025 draft list? These voters will be marked as 'unmapped', and the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in various localities will call them for a hearing.
They will have to fill out a form and submit relevant documents as suggested by the EC. Claims, objections and hearings will continue till February 2026, before the final list is published.
Election dates for West Bengal will be announced by March. The state will go to the polls in April, and the results will be declared in May.
As part of the SIR, the EC received 99.99 per cent of voters’ information till December 11, the last day to submit enumeration forms. The date was earlier extended from December 4.
The SIR exercise began on November 4 in 12 states and Union territories, including poll-bound states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party, the Trinamool Congress(TMC), along with other opposition parties like the CPI(M) and Congress, had opposed the "hurried" exercise.
Many BLO and citizen deaths were reported, allegedly due to work pressure and fears, for which the EC faced backlash. With the publication of the draft list, the next phase of the SIR has begun, where voters whose names are missing from the list will be called for hearings till February.
The EC has ensured that all voters’ concerns will be addressed.