Bengal final rolls on February 28: SIR hearings to end by 14th, says Election Commission
Telegraph | 11 February 2026
Calcutta: The Election Commission on Tuesday announced that the final electoral rolls for Bengal would be published on February 28, issuing a fresh schedule a day after the Supreme Court extended by at least seven days beyond February 14 the scrutiny of voter documents relating to the SIR process in the state.
According to the revised schedule, hearings of voters called over “logical discrepancies” and the disposal of these cases will have to be completed by February 14. Scrutiny of documents submitted by the voters is to be done by February 21.
Earlier, February 7 was the last date for hearings, while the final rolls were to be published on February 14.
Sources in the EC said 1.40 crore of the 1.51 crore voters being scrutinised for “logical discrepancies” and for failure to link themselves in any way to the 2002 rolls had been heard.
“The remaining 10-12 lakh voters spread across four to five districts will be heard over the next two days. Once the hearings are over, officials can focus on disposing of cases by February 21,” an official said.
The sources said the poll panel was focusing on verifying and uploading voter documents within a few days. The documents of about 1 crore voters who attended hearings have been uploaded so far.
“Until the documents are uploaded by electoral registration officers (EROs) and assistant EROs, the district election officers will not be able to verify them. Such verification usually takes four to five days. Once the documents are verified, they will be sent back to the EROs for disposal of cases. The electoral roll observers have noted their comments on the cases that are already verified. The EROs will consider the notes before disposing of the cases,” a source said.
The poll panel sources said that before the final rolls are published, it would have to be vetted by the chief electoral officer (CEO) following “superchecking” by electoral roll observers and special roll observers. Once the rolls are vetted by the CEO, they will be sent to Nirvachan Sadan for the approval of the EC. Another round of superchecking will be conducted by Nirvachan Sadan before the final rolls are published on February 28.
The EC has undertaken an elaborate exercise to ensure that error-free rolls are published in Bengal as there have been complaints that many fictitious voters have been included.
“This is the reason why the EC would go for multiple rounds of checks before the final rolls are published. The final rolls will be published only after the poll panel is completely satisfied,” said an official.
The EC has asked the state government to send details of the 8,505 Group B officers whose names were sent to the poll panel on Monday evening on the orders of the Supreme Court after complaints were raised that many of them were Group C employees or retired staff. These 8,505 officials are to be deputed on SIR duty.
“The EC wants to be sure that only Group B staff get this assignment,” a source said.