SIR: Each of Bengal’s 294 Assembly seats would have hearings on claims and objections conducted by ten EROs
SIR: In the second phase of the state’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which will begin on December 16 with the release of the draft voters’ list, ten electoral registration officers (EROs) will hear claims and objections for each of West Bengal’s 294 Assembly constituencies.
According to sources in the CEO’s office, the state Chief Electoral Officer has already notified the Election Commission of India (ECI) headquarters in New Delhi of the need for 2,940 EROs to handle the hearing phase on claims and objections for the 294 seats.
According to the most recent list as of October 27, 2025, there are 7,66,37,529 voters in total. On November 4, the SIR exercise began. The first phase of the three-stage SIR process will conclude on December 16 with the publication of the draft voters’ list.
After that, the ECI will begin the second phase of the revision exercise, which essentially entails filing claims and objections. The EROs will then have to work together to complete the notice phase, which includes issuance, hearing, verification, and decision-making on enumeration forms as well as the disposal of claims and objections.
February 14, 2026, will see the release of the final voter list.
It would be incorrect to assume that all voters who meet the requirements to be included to the draft voters’ list would not be called to the hearing. According to a source in the CEO’s office, voters who meet the requirements to be included to the draft voters’ list but have data uncertainty in the mapping will also be called for a hearing and requested to clarify the ambiguity.
The ECI has made the decision to provide the booth-level agents (BLAs) of each of the state’s political parties that are registered with it their own lists of excludable voters.
The purpose of this ruling is to increase openness in the hearing procedure for claims and objections that will take place during the second phase of the SIR exercise.