Bengal voter‑list controversy

West Bengal’s voter list has become a flashpoint weeks before the 2026 Assembly election, after millions of names were deleted or pushed into legal review during a special revision. (thehindu.com) The Election Commission of India began the Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal on November 4, 2025, with 7.66 crore voters on the rolls. Draft rolls published on December 16, 2025 showed more than 63 lakh deletions, mostly under the “absent, shifted, dead and duplicate” category. (thehindu.com) The revision also flagged 1.20 crore names for “logical discrepancies” and 30 lakh as “unmapped voters,” creating a second layer of scrutiny beyond the first draft deletions. By April 7, 2026, another 27.16 lakh voters under adjudication had been excluded. (thehindu.com) (indianexpress.com) That left West Bengal’s electorate at about 6.75 crore, down nearly 12% from October 2025, according to data reported on April 8. The Hindu reported that 91 lakh names had been excluded since the revision started. (thehindu.com) The dispute now centers on who was removed, how those decisions were made, and whether affected voters can get back on the rolls before polling on April 23 and April 29, 2026. Long lines formed outside tribunal centres in districts including Nadia and Purba Bardhaman as voters filed appeals. (thehindu.com) The sharpest concentration of post-adjudication deletions was reported in Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas and Malda. The Hindu said more than 4.55 lakh names were excluded in Murshidabad alone after judicial scrutiny, while North 24 Parganas saw about 3.25 lakh deletions and Malda about 2.39 lakh. (thehindu.com) Opposition parties, civil-rights groups and some local reports have linked the anxiety around the rolls to Aadhaar, India’s 12-digit biometric identity system. The Election Commission’s own voter portal says Aadhaar is optional for voter registration and updates, while the Unique Identification Authority of India says Aadhaar updates must be tracked through its separate system. (eci.gov.in) (uidai.gov.in) That distinction matters because voter registration and Aadhaar are run by different authorities. The Election Commission manages electoral rolls and says voters can register, correct details and track applications through its portal, while the Unique Identification Authority of India handles Aadhaar enrolment and demographic updates. (eci.gov.in) (uidai.gov.in) West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal rejected allegations that officials can arbitrarily alter rolls, telling The Times of India on April 1 that “there is a rule” governing changes. The Election Commission has also kept the state’s roll-download and voter-search tools online during the revision. (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (voters.eci.gov.in) For many voters, the immediate question is no longer how the revision began on November 4, 2025, but whether tribunals can clear appeals before ballots are cast on April 23 and April 29, 2026. (thehindu.com) (indianexpress.com)