The final Special Intensive Revision (SIR) list is likely to be delayed beyond the February 14 deadline, sources in the West Bengal Election Commission (EC) informed. This is due to the deadline for the SIR hearing being extended by ten days from February 7.
Why the delay?
The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday directed the Election Commission of India(ECI) to publish the name of every voter in the Logical Discrepancy(LD) list till the Panchayat level within three days. EC has received the SC order on Tuesday, which means by the weekend, the LD list is likely to be published. EC had brought down the number of voters with LD from 1.36 crore initially to 95 lakhs currently.
The names of 95 lakh voters will be prepared by Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AERO) and then submitted to all District Magistrates (DM). After this, the published list will be put up at the offices of Block Division Officers (BDO), Sub Divisional Officers (SDO) and at Panchayat level offices.
According to the SC directive, three days will be given for serving notices to these voters and thereafter another ten days will be given for submitting valid documents as suggested by EC. Following this, a hearing will be held.
Protests at hearing centres
West Bengal EC has so far not received complaints officially from officials at hearing centres about major disruptions, prompting them to stop SIR hearings temporarily. According to sources, EC will take cognisance if valid complaints are received.
Protests over voters receiving acknowledgement slips after submitting documents and completing the hearing process have rocked West Bengal, including at Farakka in Murshidabad, Chakulia in North Dinajpur, and Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas districts on Tuesday. A hearing centre was ransacked in Basanti in South 24 Parganas and tyres were burnt by protestors.
Protests also took place over the last few days due to submission of Form 7 for SIR, resulting in scuffles in various districts over the last week. Form 7 is meant for objection and deletion of names in the SIR list.
The EC will give voters an acknowledgement slip after their identity documents are submitted and a hearing has been conducted.
Roll observers for West Bengal SIR
The total number of observers for the SIR process in West Bengal now stands at 37, including special roll observers, roll observers and three high-level officers, with 12 of them appointed on Tuesday. West Bengal has a 7.6 crore electorate, which came down to 7.06 crore after the draft list of SIR was published on December 16, 2025, with around 58 lakh voters’ names deleted.