West Bengal polls: 12 lakh added to rolls; clarity still missing

West Bengal’s second supplementary voters’ list was released late Friday night, but uncertainty persists over how many of the nearly 12 lakh names included have cleared judicial scrutiny, according to a report by Times of India.

As with the first supplementary roll published earlier this week, officials provided limited clarity on the status of pending cases. Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal said around 37 lakh of the 60 lakh cases under review had been disposed of so far. He added that once inputs from the Calcutta High Court are received, the Election Commission typically takes 4–6 hours to process and upload the data.


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The updated list is available on the Election Commission’s official portals and app, and physical copies will be displayed at polling stations and administrative offices. Those excluded from the list can file appeals within 15 days, either online or offline, before appellate tribunals. Another supplementary list is expected on April 3.

Election Commission sources indicated that roughly 35–40% of individuals whose documents were examined by judicial officers may have been excluded from the rolls.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has approached the Calcutta High Court, seeking daily publication of supplementary lists. The party flagged discrepancies in the first list, noting that only about 7.5 lakh names were included despite judicial disposal of a significantly higher number of cases.

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The petition also raised concerns over candidates still unaware of their voter status and the limited window available for appeals, ahead of the April 7 deadline for finalising electoral rolls for the first phase of polling across 152 constituencies.

The issue was reviewed on Friday in a meeting chaired by Chief Justice Sujoy Paul, attended by senior state and election officials, the report added.

With inputs from Times of India