Kolkata, Dec 16 (IANS) South 24 Parganas district tops among the 24 districts in West Bengal in terms of exclusion of names of voters in the draft voters' list in the state published by the Election Commission of India (ECI) earlier on Tuesday.
A total of more than eight lakh voters from the previous list as of October 2025 have been excluded from the draft voters' list for South 24 Parganas.
On the other hand, the minimum number of voters' names has been excluded from the hill district of Kalimpong, where the figure is a little less than 18,000.
North 24 Parganas district has witnessed an exclusion of around 7.93 lakh voters in the draft voters' list, making the district the second highest after South 24 Parganas on this count.
Kolkata-adjacent Howrah district is in the distant third position, where the number of excluded voters is standing at around 4.47 lakh.
Kolkata (Uttar) is in the fourth position, where the number of excluded voters is standing at around 3.91 lakh.
Hooghly district is in the fifth position where the number of excluded voters is standing at around 3.18 lakh.
West Burdwan district is in the sixth position where the number of excluded voters is standing at around 3.06 lakh.
More than two lakh of voters have been excluded from districts like Murshidabad, Nadia, Malda, Kolkata (Dakshin), West Midnapore, and East Burdwan.
More than one lakh of voters have been excluded from districts like Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, East Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura.
Less than a lakh of voters have been excluded from districts like South Dinajpur, Alipurduar, and Jhargram.
With the publication of the draft voters' list, the first stage of the three-phase Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, which began on November 4, ended on December 16.
Thereafter, the second phase of the SIR will commence, which will involve filing claims and objections, and the notice phase -- issuance, hearing, verification, and decision on enumeration forms and disposal of claims and objections -- to be done concurrently by the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).
The final voters' list will be published on February 14, 2026.
In the case of West Bengal, the ECI will, after the publication of the final voters' list, announce the dates for the Assembly elections scheduled next year.
--IANS
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