Kolkata: The final adjudication list released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) late Monday under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) shows large-scale deletions in South Bengal districts with significant Matua populations, raising concerns over possible impact on refugee communities and the BJP’s vote base.
Nadia, North 24-Parganas, and South 24-Parganas together accounted for nearly 30 per cent of the 27.16 lakh deletions and have an estimated 40 per cent Matua population.
Overall, 60,06,675 electors were taken up; 32,68,119 (54.4 per cent) were retained and 27,16,393 (45.2 per cent) removed.
Nadia saw the highest rejection rate: 2,08,626 (77.9 per cent) of 2,67,940 were deleted; 59,314 (22.1 per cent) retained.
In North 24-Parganas, 3,25,666 (55.1 per cent) of 5,91,252 were struck off and 2,65,077 (44.8 per cent) retained. South 24 Parganas recorded 2,22,929 (42.7 per cent) deletions out of 5,22,042, with 2,95,739 (56.6 per cent) retained.
Together, the three districts accounted for 8,30,031 deletions—nearly 30 per cent of the total. Hooghly retained only 29.7 per cent of 1,71,778 electors, with over 70 per cent removed. East Burdwan saw 57.4 per cent deletions; West Burdwan 53.71 per cent.
Murshidabad had 11,01,145 under review; 6,33,671 (57.5 per cent) retained and 4,55,137 (41.3 per cent) removed.
Kolkata South reported 78,657 electors, with 50,049 (63.6 per cent) retained and 36.2 per cent removed.
Kolkata North retained 22,071 of 61,236 (36 per cent), with 64 per cent deleted. In Howrah, 1,32,151 (45.6 per cent) were removed out of 2,89,714.
In North Bengal, Cooch Behar saw 1,20,725 (51 per cent) of 2,38,107 removed, while South Dinajpur recorded over 58 per cent deletions (76,768 of 1,32,258). Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram and East Midnapore showed higher retention. Bankura retained over 83 per cent of 39,117; Purulia and Jhargram exceeded 80 per cent. East Midnapore recorded a lower deletion rate of 24.41 per cent.