CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby. File
| Photo Credit: Nirmal Harindran

Protesting the deletion of nearly 90 lakh voters from electoral rolls in West Bengal, constituting about 12% of the State’s electorate, CPI(M) General Secretary M.A. Baby, in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, noted that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) had led to algorithm-driven exclusions rather than transparent, field-based verification.

The SIR was an “exclusionary exercise” that resulted in large-scale disenfranchisement and the denial of the constitutional right to vote. Expressing “anguish, grave concern and strong protest”, Mr. Baby said the mechanisms promised for the redress of grievances of those excluded were either inaccessible or non-functional. “A significant number were placed under an impervious category of ‘under adjudication’, only to find that the promised mechanisms for redress were inaccessible and non-operational,” he said.

Published – April 09, 2026 04:04 pm IST