A special review of the voter list is underway across West Bengal. The main reason for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is to ensure accurate and flawless voter list. To ensure the same, the Election Commission is sending five officers to the state as special observers who will be present in the state till the last day of the SIR work.

The commission is going to tighten the grip of the centre in the SIR process in West Bengal, which is why five special observers are being commissioned in the state. The joint secretary-level IAS officers will take charge of various divisions. One division will comprise of a few districts. The commission calls these five officers Special Role Observers (SRO). The commission has said that these special officers will keep a close watch on each stage of counting, notices and publication of the final voter list.

The Presidency Division will be headed by Joint Secretary of the Defence Department, Kumar Ravikant Singh. The Midnapore Division will be headed by Joint Secretary of the Home Department, Neeraj Kumar Bansore. The Burdwan Division will be headed by Joint Secretary of the Information and Broadcasting Department, Krishna Kumar Nirala. The Malda Division will be headed by Joint Secretary of the Finance Department, Alok Tiwari. The Jalpaiguri Division will be headed by Joint Secretary of the Rural Development Department, Pankaj Yadav.

In a letter sent to these officers, the Commission said that their main responsibility will be to ensure that no eligible person is left out of the list. In addition, they will be responsible for issuing notices, conducting hearings properly and publishing the final list. The Commission said that these five officers will remain in Bengal till the last day of the SIR work.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) have vehemently opposed the EC’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls. The TMC alleges the process is a “disguised NRC” orchestrated by the BJP to delete genuine voters, particularly from minority communities. The ECI has rejected these claims, stating it is a routine cleanup operation to ensure impartiality and transparency.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly raised questions about the SIR process. The Trinamool Congress supremo had sent a letter to the National Election Commission with several suggestions and complaints during the SIR. Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly mentioned that it is a mountain of pressure for the BLOs to do a special and intensive revision in the voter list so quickly without adequate infrastructure. Recently, a 10-member delegation of the Trinamool Congress met the Election Commission chief in Delhi.

Officials accused of rigging in voter list name registration

Just a few months ago, there was a clash between the state and the Election Commission on the issue of taking action against five officials. Recently, allegations of rigging in the registration of names in the voter list were made against 4 officials. They are Baruipur East (137) Assembly constituency Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) Debottam Dutta Chowdhury, Assistant ERO Tathagata Mandal, Moina ERO Biplob Sarkar, AERO Sudipta Das and Data Entry Operator Surajit Halder. The Election Commission had suspended these officials and ordered an FIR to be lodged against them.

The ECI directed the state’s chief secretary to suspend and lodge First Information Reports (FIRs) against five officials for alleged irregularities in the voter list preparation. The state government initially pushed back, arguing the action was “disproportionately harsh” and would demoralise officers, but eventually took some disciplinary action by suspending four officials and lodging an FIR against one data entry operator.

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