KOLKATA: The Election Commission (EC) has reported a reduction of 41.51 lakh voters from the list of “logical discrepancies” identified earlier in West Bengal’s electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The figure, which stood at around 1.36 crore following the publication of the draft electoral roll, has now come down to 94.49 lakh. Logical discrepancies refer to anomalies in voter data, including name mismatches and abnormal age-related inconsistencies. According to sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Bengal, cases where one individual has been linked with six voters stand at 23 lakh, instances of name mismatches account for 51 lakh cases, while around 4.74 lakh voters have an age gap of less than 15 years with their fathers, with another 8.41 lakh cases showing a gap of more than 50 years. Discrepancies involving the age difference between voters and their grandfathers have been found in about 3 lakh cases. The Commission officials believe that this number may be reduced further after the hearing process is completed.
The issue of logical discrepancies recently triggered a political row, with Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee questioning the manner in which the lists were released. He said, “By what magic did the Commission publish both the draft roll and the logical discrepancy list on the same day? A list called ‘logical discrepancies’ was floated in the air. There was no official press release. It was shared on WhatsApp. We have screenshots. It claims that 1.36 crore voters have spelling errors in names or age-related discrepancies with their fathers.” The TMC demanded publication of the complete discrepancy list after meeting the state Chief Electoral Officer, and later a party delegation led by Banerjee raised the same demand with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi. Hearings of non-mapped voters are currently underway, and the poll body has begun preparations to summon voters under “progeny mapping”—cases involving discrepancies in parental details of voters listed in the 2025 rolls but absent from the 2002 rolls. Sources said there are instances where 100 voters share the same father’s name, with around 24 lakh voters falling under the progeny-mapping category.