More voter deletions recorded in draft SIR exercises than to the combined SSRs in the past 10 years.
The Election Commission of India temporarily removed 5.8 million voter names in the draft electoral rolls published after the recently concluded special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal.
This figure comes close to the combined 6.2 million deletions from 2014 to 2024 through special summary revisions (SSRs).
Debates on SIR focused on alleged infiltrators from Bangladesh and had suggested that Muslim voters would feel a disproportionate burden of deletions.
But current data does not show higher removal rates in Muslim-majority districts.
Largest voter removal in West Bengal in a decade
More voter deletions recorded in draft SIR exercises than to the combined SSRs in the past 10 years
Women have higher share in removals
In most constituencies with higher deletions, the share of women electors removed from the rolls has exceeded that of men
Little correlation between religion and deletion
There is little evidence of correlation between higher deletion rates and constituencies where Muslims constitute at least 25% of the population
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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