West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal on Tuesday said that “No legitimate voter’s name will be deleted from the electoral roll”, as he outlined preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ lists.

Speaking after an all-party meeting at the CEO office, Agarwal described the SIR process as secure and systematic, and urged calm. “We will make such a voter list where 100 per cent of the voters’ names will be legitimate,” he said, adding that there are 7,66,37,529 voters in the state.

“We didn’t have time in Bihar for the SIR of electoral rolls, but in Bengal we have got time. There is no opportunity to create any confusion. The increase in voters compared to 2002 is normal. Many people’s names have been transferred,” he said.

Agarwal said every applicant who submits an enumeration form will receive a unique QR code, which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will use to enter and verify documents.

“Each voter who submits an enumeration form will get a separate QR code and on that basis the BLO will enter his documents. So there should not be any panic,” he said, adding that the Election Commission of India (ECI) had already provided detailed guidelines and table-top exercises and mapping exercises had been completed.

On concerns over BLO safety, Agarwal said law and order was a state subject and the state government had been asked to provide necessary protection. “The state will provide all possible security for the BLOs. Even then if any situation arises, we will take action accordingly,” he said.

Asked whether SIR could be completed within a month, Agarwal argued the timeline was feasible. “Every booth has around 900 to 1,000 voters or 200–300 families. Almost all BLOs are local residents of that area. So they will easily reach all the families within a month,” he said, adding that the ECI’s machinery was “geared up and fully prepared” and that officials were optimistic of cooperation from political parties.

Agarwal declined to comment on the substance of political reactions, saying only that “ECI already said everything in their guidelines and the announcements.” He said the goal was a voter list that contains “100% legitimate voters’ names.”

Meanwhile, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) described the exercise as a “pre-exercise to implement CAA-NRC” and warned it would not allow what it called an attempt to target vulnerable voters; party leaders also claimed a suicide had occurred in the context of the roll revision, an allegation echoed in party statements.

State minister Firhad Hakim said the party would “continue protests if any genuine voter’s name was removed.”
The opposition also raised objections on different grounds. CPI(M) leader Samik Lahiri questioned the feasibility of reaching more than seven crore voters within a month and urged that the SIR be used to add genuine voters and remove bogus entries following due process. “SIR should include genuine voters and delete fake and dead names — that should be done through the exercise,” he said.

BJP leader Sanjay Singh said, “We welcomed the SIR process. We mentioned to ECI that, in Bengal, a huge number of Bangladeshi muslims already included in the voter list. Their names should be deleted from the list. We also mentioned that the commission should identify fake voters in different areas of the state.”

The BJP welcomed the SIR but urged aggressive action against alleged illegal entries. Party leader Sanjay Singh told officials that names of alleged Bangladeshi nationals included in voter lists should be identified and removed, and asked the commission to pinpoint and delete fake voters in the state.

Agarwal and ECI officials said they would publish updates as the process progresses. Authorities also appealed to parties and citizens to cooperate and avoid panic as verification work gets under way.