Voter Roll Revision: New Jackpot of BJP

October 28, 2025 - By Ashutosh Roy

Voter Roll Revision: Phase II

Finally, ECI has announced the second phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) for Voter Roll Revision in 12 States including West Bengal starting October 27, 2025.

In fact, the Chief Election Commissioner has made the intend very clear. While, no eligible voter is excluded, no ineligible voter’s name will remain in the electoral rolls. Specifically, the Election Commission has been firm in its announcement.

The EC has decided to conduct Phase 2 exercise in the following states and Union Territories:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Goa (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP))
Puducherry
Chhattisgarh (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP))
Gujarat (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP))
Kerala (LDF)
Madhya Pradesh (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP))
Uttar Pradesh (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP))
Rajasthan (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP))
West Bengal (Trinomul Congress)
Tamil Nadu (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). )
Lakshadweep

Assam is already undergoing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process. So the authorities will announce the Voter Roll Revision in this poll-bound state separately.

The CEC has also cautioned that “The existing electoral rolls in these states and Union territories will be on freeze-mode from midnight (Monday).” CEC Gyanesh Kumar, announced the decision at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan on Monday afternoon along with two other fellow commissioners.

Moreover, The ECI has emphasized that the BLO will visit the houses even thrice and they need to identify the deceased voters, if required. Gyanesh Kumar also added that the ECI is introducing online facility for the urban and migrant voters. Accordingly, this phase of SIR will cover 51 crore voters.

Political mudslinging

As usual, the so-called possibility of bloodbath in West Bengal, has come into the discussion. CEC reportedly asserted, no hurdle in carrying out Electoral Roll Revision in Bengal, states constitutionally bound to support it.

However, the mud-fest has started in politics. While CPM has emphasized on transparency, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has reiterated that they will protest any attempt to delete names of eligible voters. Notably, TMC had requested Election Commission to treat 2024 as the base instead of 2002.

The EC has clearly focused to consider 2002 Voter List as the base, because the last SIR was conducted on that year only.

While the list contains a lot of deceased, some may have left the West Bengal permanently and some may have duplicate entries in the voter list. As TMC has been constantly showing protests against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state, it can lead to violence.