West Bengal SIR: 50% Voters 'Deleted' in 5 Districts Where Mamata Won 110 Seats
West Bengal SIR: Only 10% ineligible voters are from 7 BJP-dominated districts.
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West Bengal, following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), saw the Election Commission release data on around 60 lakh voters under scrutiny. 32.68 lakh were found eligible, while 27.16 lakh were declared ineligible (under adjudication).
The Quint did a district-wise analysis of voters under adjudication and compared it with the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. The analysis identifies four key points that explain who could benefit or lose from voter deletions in the state.
1. Nearly 50% of ineligible voters deleted from 5 districts where TMC won 110 seats
The data shows that the highest number of ineligible voters were removed from districts where TMC secured a sweeping victory.
These five districts account for 13.45 lakh out of the total 27.16 lakh ineligible voters (approximately 50%). These five districts have 118 Assembly seats.
Murshidabad: TMC won 20 out of 22 seats in the 2021 Assembly elections, and this district alone recorded the highest number of ineligible voters in the state at 4,55,137.
North 24 Parganas: TMC secured 28 out of 33 seats, with 3,25,666 voters declared ineligible.
South 24 Parganas: TMC won 30 out of 31 seats, with 2,22,929 voters declared ineligible and removed.
Purba Bardhaman: TMC achieved a clean sweep of all 16 seats, with 2,09,805 voters declared ineligible.
Howrah: TMC also secured all 16 seats, with 1,32,151 voters declared ineligible.
2. Only 10% of the ineligible voters from 7 BJP-dominated districts
West Bengal 2021 elections saw BJP secure more votes than TMC in seven districts — Darjeeling, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Bankura, and Purba Medinipur — where relatively fewer ineligible voters were found in the electoral rolls (under scrutiny).
These seven BJP-influenced districts together account for only 2.64 lakh voters (around 10% of the state total) being declared ineligible.
Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Alipurduar recorded the lowest deletions: The Darjeeling district has 5 seats, out of which TMC directly contested 3 seats (Matigara-Naxalbari, Siliguri, Phansidewa) in 2021 and left the remaining 2 seats to its alliance partners.
Kalimpong has only one seat, where TMC did not field its own candidate.
Alipurduar district has 5 seats, all of which were contested by TMC, but the party finished second in every seat. BJP registered a one-sided clean sweep in all three districts.
Bankura and Purba Medinipur also recorded low ineligible voters: Bankura district has 12 seats, where BJP won 8 and TMC secured 4 seats. BJP led TMC by 26,658 votes in total.
Purba Medinipur district has 16 seats, where TMC won 9 and BJP won 7 seats. However, BJP secured 1,753 more votes than TMC in total vote count.
3. “Deletion margin” significantly higher than TMC’s vote margin
In several districts of West Bengal in 2021, the vote difference between TMC and BJP was below 5%. In these districts, the number of voters now declared ineligible is far higher than the margin by which TMC led BJP.
Nadia: This district has 17 Assembly seats. In 2021, BJP won 9 seats while TMC won 8. At that time, TMC’s total vote count exceeded BJP’s by just 20,903 votes (a margin of 0.57%). Now, under the SIR, 2,08,626 voters have been declared ineligible and removed, nearly 10 times the earlier vote margin.
Paschim Bardhaman: Out of 9 Assembly seats, TMC won 6 and BJP won 3 in 2021. The vote margin in favour of TMC was just 2.68% (43,893 votes). Now, 74,100 voters have been found ineligible under the SIR, which is around 30,000 more than TMC’s earlier lead.
Dakshin Dinajpur: Out of 6 Assembly seats, both parties won 3 seats each in 2021. TMC had a narrow lead of just 4.19% (44,945 votes). Now, 76,768 voters have been declared ineligible, over 31,000 more than the vote margin.
Across these three districts, there are a total of 32 Assembly seats. The number of ineligible voters here is significantly higher than TMC’s total lead, making them potentially decisive for both TMC and BJP in these closely contested regions.
4. Is TMC’s overall vote margin at risk even in “clean sweep” districts?
The previous point highlighted districts with closely contested results in the 2021 elections. However, even in districts where TMC secured 100% of the seats (clean sweeps), the total number of ineligible voters has now come very close to TMC’s overall vote lead.
In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, there were five such districts Purba Bardhaman (16), Howrah (16), Kolkata North (7), Kolkata South (4), and Jhargram (4) — where TMC achieved a 100% victory, winning all 47 Assembly seats.
Additionally, districts like Uttar Dinajpur and Hooghly witnessed one-sided victories, with TMC winning nearly 80% of the seats.
However, after the SIR, the district-wise list of ineligible voters suggests that even in these so-called TMC strongholds, the total number of ineligible voters has either come very close to TMC’s overall lead or exceeded half of it.
Purba Bardhaman: In 2021, TMC won all 16 Assembly seats in the district, securing a total lead of 2,75,905 votes over BJP. However, 2,09,805 voters from the district have now been declared ineligible and removed.
Uttar Dinajpur: TMC won 7 out of 9 seats in 2021, with a total district-wide lead of 2,74,944 votes. However, 1,76,972 voters have now been declared ineligible and deleted.
Hooghly: Out of 18 seats, TMC won 14 with a significant margin. Across the district, TMC led BJP by 2,79,890 votes. However, of the voters scrutinized in Hooghly, 70.33% — or 1,20,813 voters — have been declared ineligible.
Howrah: TMC achieved a clean sweep of all 16 Assembly seats in 2021, with a total lead of 4,54,873 votes over BJP. However, 1,32,151 voters from the district have now been declared ineligible and removed from the rolls.
Examples from Purba Bardhaman, Uttar Dinajpur, Howrah, Malda, and Hooghly suggest that even TMC’s “safe strongholds” could be affected by the removal of ineligible voters.