Five ways SIR could shape West Bengal election results 2026

Will the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) impact the 2026 West Bengal election results? This is likely to be the central question on May 4, when votes are counted.

Regardless of whether Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerges victorious, the SIR debate is set to remain a key point of contention between the two parties.

West Bengal recorded a combined poll percentage of 92.47 per cent over the two phases of the 2026 Assembly elections, the first after the implementation of the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state. After the revision, the number of voters declined by over 50 lakh; the turnout, meanwhile, was the best since 2011 (84.7 per cent).

Why is SIR 'problematic' in West Bengal Election 2026?

Five years ago, in the 2021 West Bengal Elections, there were a total of 7,34,14,746 electors, according to the Election Commission's data. This year, the poll body said 6.81 crore voters were recorded across the state after deletions and subsequent inclusions in the electoral roll.

Political analyst and author Rasheed Kidwai said that in a democracy, the right to vote is very sacred. "If people are not allowed to vote in spite of being [legal] voters, then it's a blot on democracy, and that is where SIR is problematic," he told Mint.

Kidwai emphasised that "it's the poor of the poorest who are most affected [in terms of documentation etc]," adding that the denial of even one eligible vote makes a big impact.

The EC conducted SIR, arguing that the exercise will lead to "purification of the voter list. When the SIR controversy first ignited during the Bihar elections, the poll body had said it was being conducted to "include migration, need to weed out foreign illegal immigrants, to include newly eligible voters and delete the names of the dead." The issue of voter duplication was also raised by the Opposition.

However, the problem, as the Opposition sees it, lies in the timing of the SIR (just before the elections). They also alleged "targeted deletions" to give the BJP an edge in polls.

In Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the poll body of undertaking "targeted deletions of Matua, Rajbanshi and minority community members" of the state. However, Banerjee's rival Suvendu Adhikari has maintained that "Bangladeshi Muslims have no place in West Bengal".

Earlier in April, it was reported that nearly 91 lakh names were deleted from West Bengal electoral rolls after judicial scrutiny under the SIR. The EC figures pushed the total deletion to over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, news agency PTI reported.

'Targeted deletions'

As per data by the Kolkata-based Sabar Institute, which is documenting and archiving "every detail of this large-scale disenfranchisement unfolding in West Bengal," 90,82,099 lakh West Bengal voters have been deleted from the electoral roll after the SIR.

The net deletion - persons deleted for reasons other than death; i.e., logical discrepancy, unmapped, permanently shifted, untraceable/absent, already enrolled — stands at 66,62,010, the data revealed.

In its "first full-scale analysis of the Appellate Tribunal Supplementary List 2", the Sabar Institute noted that there were 1,468 new inclusions and six deletions.

It said, "Deletion demographics raise serious concerns," revealing that "five are Muslims" and "1 is a Hindu woman". It added, "100% belong to minority/marginalised groups."

Mint could not independently verify the data.

Five ways how SIR may shape West Bengal Election Results 2026

Experts said the deletion and revision of the electoral roll is a very normal process in India, as per the People's Representative Act and the Constitution, but the SIR will be a deciding factor in the West Bengal polls.

Faulty SIR: Sabir Ahamed, the founder of the 'Know Your Neighbour' initiative at Sabar Institute, said the fault was in the way the SIR was conducted in West Bengal — in a "very hasty manner" and without proper process.

"The manner in which the SIR was done in Bengal was undemocratic and unconstitutional," he said.

Fear of losing voting rights: Ahamed emphasised, "This is the vote against SIR," claiming that a "large number of people" came from outside of Bengal to cast their vote against the BJP and SIR, in fear that their voting rights would also be taken away.

Other poll issues take back in the face of SIR: Ahamed explained that in Muslim-dominated regions such as Murshidabad, "where the names have been deleted", people usually vote against the BJP. "This time, there's also anti-incumbency among minorities. However, all other poll issues [except SIR] have taken a back seat," he said.

Consolidation of minority votes: On most exit poll results hinting at a regime change in Bengal, Ahamed said the actual results may not mirror them, since minority voters have consolidated their votes in favour of the Trinamool.

Congress, Left didn't oppose SIR enough: The TMC may also dent some of the Left and Congress' vote share, as they did not oppose the SIR in the later phase of the elections, he suggested. "The Congress may gain in some districts, such as Malda...but in other districts, the party may not retain its voters," Ahamed said.