Over 1.6 crore electors in West Bengal have been flagged due to "logical discrepancies" in their voter roll enumeration forms, prompting a large-scale re-verification effort. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has identified these discrepancies following the completion of the enumeration process and has ordered booth-level officers (BLOs) to revisit the addresses of the flagged electors. This process is expected to continue until the final rolls are published on February 14 next year.
The identified discrepancies largely pertain to "erroneous progeny mapping," where inconsistencies arise in the linking of voters to their parents in the 2002 electoral rolls. According to sources within the ECI, a significant portion of these discrepancies, approximately 85 lakh cases, involve mismatches in the names of parents when compared to the 2002 voter list. In other words, the names of the parents of 85,01,486 electors, figured in the 2025 rolls, appeared as a mismatch when they linked themselves with a 2002 voter. The mismatch was noticed, as the names of the 2002 voters were different from the names mentioned in the 2025 rolls.
Other notable discrepancies include instances of voters being listed with more than six children, and inconsistencies in age differences between voters and their parents or grandparents. Specifically, there are cases where the age gap between a voter and their parents is less than 15 years or exceeds 50 years, and instances where the age difference with grandparents is less than 40 years. Furthermore, over 20 lakh voters above the age of 45 have been incorrectly marked as ‘new voters,’ and errors have been detected in gender data, with over 13 lakh entries recorded incorrectly.
While an exact district-wise breakdown of the 1.6 crore flagged electors is not available, Murshidabad and Kalimpong have been identified as among the worst-hit districts. Murshidabad recorded the highest number of cases where a single individual is listed as the parent of six or more children. Kalimpong, on the other hand, has the lowest number of cases of mismatched father's names.
The ECI has already deleted approximately 58 lakh voters from the draft electoral roll due to them being absent, shifted, dead, or duplicates (ASDD). Kolkata North and Kolkata South have recorded the highest percentages of deletions. The constituency of Bhabanipur, previously represented by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has seen a deletion of nearly 45,000 electors.
The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal has stated that a window for claims and objections will remain open until January 15. Voters who have objections to any of the flagged discrepancies can file a complaint with the District Magistrate, and if still unsatisfied, a second complaint can be filed with the CEO. The hearing and verification process is scheduled to continue from December 16, 2025, to February 7, 2026. Notices for hearing are likely to be sent to around 32 lakh 'unmapped' electors who have not been able to link themselves to the 2002 electoral list.
