Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress has decided to launch a fresh, door-to-door verification drive in Bhabanipur, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Assembly constituency, after a sharp drop in the number of voters was reflected in the draft electoral rolls released under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Party sources said booth-level agents have been instructed to physically verify the names of voters deleted from the rolls, after nearly 45,000 electors were struck off in the constituency. According to Election Commission figures, Bhabanipur had 2,06,295 registered voters in January 2025. The draft rolls now list 1,61,509 voters, indicating the deletion of 44,787 names, or about 21.7 per cent of the electorate.
The draft electoral rolls for West Bengal were published on Tuesday following the SIR process, during which more than 58 lakh voters were removed statewide on grounds such as death, migration and prolonged absence. The revision exercise is being carried out ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
The scale of deletions has caused disquiet within the ruling party, with TMC leaders questioning the categorisation of a large number of voters as “dead”, “shifted” or “absent”. A senior party source said the leadership has conveyed that no genuine voter’s name should be removed without proper verification, and that every deletion must be checked on the ground.
Bhabanipur comprises Kolkata Municipal Corporation wards 63, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 77 and 82. Party sources said wards 70, 72 and 77 have reported particularly high deletions, with ward 77, a minority-dominated area, being marked for focused scrutiny.
The constituency, which is densely populated, has a significant number of residents originally from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, a factor the party believes may have contributed to voters being marked as shifted or absent.
With the claims and objections process set to begin shortly, the TMC has asked its local leadership to remain actively involved in assisting affected voters. The party has directed its units to continue running neighbourhood-level ‘May I Help You’ camps to support residents with documentation, form submission and hearings before election authorities. Volunteers have also been asked to visit homes wherever necessary.
The situation in Bhabanipur mirrors a wider trend across south Kolkata. Draft rolls show that four politically significant Assembly segments — Bhabanipur, Kolkata Port, Ballygunge and Rashbehari — together have seen more than 2.16 lakh deletions, accounting for nearly 24 per cent of their combined electorate. These constituencies had around 9.07 lakh voters when the SIR exercise began.
