Kolkata, Dec 16 (IANS) The first stage of the three-level Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal will end on Tuesday, with over 58.08 lakh names already being identified as excludable for various reasons.

Along with West Bengal, the draft voters’ lists will also be published during the day for the two other states of Goa and Rajasthan, as well as the two union territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.

Of the 58.08 lakh potential excludable voters in West Bengal, the number of deceased voters stands at 24.18 lakh, followed by the number of shifted voters, that is, voters who have permanently shifted to another place, at around 20 lakh.

The number of untraceable voters stands at around 12 lakh. The combined number of duplicate voters having names in two places, as well as voters deemed to be excludable for other reasons, stands at 1.37 lakh.

In addition to that, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has identified around 1.60 crore voters in whose cases the “progeny mapping” identified “weird” family-tree data.

The first category of such voters with “weird family tree data” includes those who have applied for retention names in the voters’ list through “progeny mapping” instead of “self-mapping” despite attaining the age of 45 years or above.

The last time that the SIR was conducted in West Bengal was in 2002. Those who are 45 years or older would have become voters in 2002, considering the minimum voting age is 18 years. The question arises as to why such voters, who are 45 years or above, did not enrol themselves as voters in 2002, and hence they had to depend on ‘progeny mapping’ instead of ‘self mapping’ in the ongoing SIR to retain their names in the voters’ list.

Self-mapping voters are those who have names both in the current voters’ list as of October 27, 2025, as well as in the voters’ list in 2002.

On the other hand, progeny-mapping voters are those who do not have their own names but their parents’ names in the voters’ list for 2002.

The second category of such voters with weird family-tree data includes those whose fathers were just 15 years of age or even lower at the time of becoming the fathers of the voters concerned. An instance has already been identified by ECI through progeny mapping, where a particular voter became a father of two sons when he was just five years old.

The third category of such voters includes those whose fathers and mothers have the same name. The fourth category of such voters is those whose grandfathers were just 40 years old or even lower while becoming the grandfathers, and the figure on this count, as per initial estimates, is around 3.50 lakh.

All such cases will be referred for hearing on claims and objections in the second stage of the revision exercise after publication of the draft voters’ list, where clarifications will be sought on the doubts about their voters’ data.

The ECI has clarified that it would be wrong to think that 100 per cent of the voters qualifying for enlistment in the draft voters’ list will be exempted from being summoned to attend the hearing.

The first stage of the three-phase SIR, which began on November 4, will end for these three states and two Union Territories on Tuesday, with the publication of the draft voters’ lists there.

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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