West Bengal Election Authority says eligible deleted voters can apply through Form 6 to restore name on rolls

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari interacts with a child during his visit to cast his vote for the Nandigram High Assembly by-election on October 6, 2026 in Purba Medinipur. Photo credit: ANI

Calcutta

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal issued a statement on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) evening and said that any eligible voter who was deleted during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) can apply for restoration of his name through Form 6. The Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal said that this list of deleted names is now available online for verification.

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“For the omitted eligible voters, ASDD (Absentee, Shifted, Dead, Deleted) list of SIR 2026 voters is available at the link ceowestbengal.wb.gov.in/asdsir and also on the relevant links on the websites of the District Election Commissioners. Any person on this list can submit Form 6 online or through BLO to include his name in the electoral roll,” said a notification issued by the Director General of the WB office on Tuesday (October 6, 2026) evening.

According to the first draft released in December 2025, West Bengal had more than 58 million ASDD voters. About 24.16 lakh voters were identified as deceased, 32.65 lakh voters as shifted and absent and 1.38 lakh voters were found to have duplicate entries at multiple places.

Amid growing confusion over the Election Commission of India and mounting pressure on the electoral body over alleged unauthorized deletions, the ECI recently said it would make special efforts to restore names omitted during the SIR process. However, this initially did not include West Bengal.

When the final voter list came out in West Bengal, more than 27 million people were deleted after a court process found them ineligible. However, after many political upheavals, the Supreme Court established 19 appellate tribunals to review these 27,000 cases. These 19 tribunals are headed by former judges of the Calcutta High Court.

But it was unclear what would happen to the 27 million people who had applied to the tribunals to have their names restored. It remained unclear whether they would also be eligible to fill Form 6 to be included in the electoral roll again.

“Why are senior former judges being asked to look into appeals? That is the job of the CEO and the ERO under Section 24 of the Representation of Peoples Act. These tribunals are a mistake and are the reason why many may not be able to access Form 6 in West Bengal because these people are stuck in between,” former West Bengal CEO Jawhar Sircar told The Hindu. He added that the notice released by the current WB CEO is a clear admission of guilt that there were “wrongful” deletions during the special intensive review in West Bengal, contrary to what the authorities initially claimed.

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal has undertaken to work under the supervision and control of the Election Commission of India in accordance with the provision of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950 in connection with the updating of the electoral roll. #PressNote @ECISVEEP https://t.co/ziy1aUMjCk

— CEO West Bengal (@CEOWestBengal) October 6, 2026

Published – 7 Oct 2026 10:59 IST