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Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday held a protest outside the office of the Election Commission against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
During the protest, CPI (M) State Secretary Md Salim slammed the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that it has "borrowed a page from the book of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)." "The Election Commission is conducting this SIR by borrowing a page from the book of RSS. There is chaos in West Bengal because region and religion profiling has been done keeping in mind the booth, assembly, and district, which was what RSS wanted. TMC steals the right to vote through weapons, and the RSS uses ECI to do so. This is the fight for the right to vote," he said while speaking to ANI. Earlier on Monday, Congress carried out a protest march from Bankshall Court to the West Bengal State Election Commission in Kolkata, against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, demanding an explaination over the alleged removal of voters' names from the list. Congress leader Ashutosh Chatterjee questioned the Election Commission's (EC) silence on the alleged removal of genuine voters' names from the electoral rolls and said that there will be protests until an efficient answer is provided and announced a dharna on Friday. "What is the reason behind the removal of genuine voters' names today? The Election Commission is silent. The full reason for this must be audited and made public. Otherwise, there will be strong protests, and we will hold a dharna on the 6th March," he told ANI. Earlier, on February 28, the ECI released the final electoral roll following the SIR of voter lists in West Bengal, stating that 5,46,053 voters have been deleted using Form 7 after the draft list was published in December 2025. The total number of voters in West Bengal now stands at 7,04,59,284 voters (7.04 crore) as compared to 7,66,37,529 (7.66 crore) before the SIR exercise, showing a change of more than 61 lakh names in the list. According to a press note by the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), a total of 58,20,899 Enumeration Forms were not received, as the poll body found 24,16,852 voters to be deceased, 12,20,039 absent, 19,88,076 shifted, 1,38,328 already enrolled, and 57,604 names were deleted based on other reasons. After the ECI published the draft voter list on December 16, 2025, the poll body added a total of 1,82,036 voters to the list using Forms 6 and 6A, and made 6,671 additions by Form 8. As per the Commission, 60,06,675 electors under adjudication were included in the final roll. (ANI)
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