Bengal CEO starts SIR training, spells out roadmap for scrutiny
Times of India | 17 September 2025It was attended by 3,500 officials, including district magistrates, additional DMs, electoral registration officers (EROs) and assistant EROs. Assembly polls in Bengal are due in May 2026.
The four-hour training by the CEO, and additional and deputy CEOs, was conducted via video-conferencing. "The DEOs, ADMs, OCs & other election officials in all districts were trained on the upcoming SIR," the CEO posted on social media.
The senior officers who were trained on Tuesday would now act as the master trainers, the poll panel said.
The officials of all 294 assembly constituencies were asked to get ready with SIR preparations immediately. The EC wants the preparations to be completed by Sept 30 as SIR in Bengal is expected to start once the festivals are over. The training of BLOs would also be completed by Sept 25.
The SIR in Bengal is going to start after 23 years as the last one was done in 2002.
Officials were asked to focus on the list of 2002, when there were 4.5 crore voters, and match it with the Jan 2025 voters' list, which shows Bengal has 7.6 crore voters.
After the 2002 SIR, the names of 28 lakh voters were deleted, so the scrutiny now would particularly focus on those who were not voters 23 years ago. The additional voters would be stringently scrutinised.
But this SIR will be much tougher as citizens need to prove their citizenship.
If citizens had their names in the 2002 SIR, it would be easier for them to prove their identity along with that of their children's identity, an official said.
During Tuesday's training, the mapping of voters was spelt out, as was how filled-up enumeration forms are to be uploaded on the EC's portal immediately so that officials can track the verification process. The enumeration forms would be sent to DEOs and BLOs would help voters in filling up the forms.
Several officers who underwent the training asked questions about implementing the SIR process. "There are queries like if one was a voter before 2000 and still his name cannot be traced in the 2002 SIR, then how to solve the issue," the official said.
Former WBPCC chief Adhir Chowdhury met Agarwal on Tuesday and sought proper awareness among voters before the launch as "people were living in fear due to SIR". He wanted all political parties to be properly briefed about it.
