In West Bengal, 75,443 of 82,782 resolved appeals linked to the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, have resulted in voters’ names being restored to electoral rolls ahead of assembly elections. The figure represents 91 percent of decided cases, while 7,339 names remained excluded. The information emerged in response to a Right to Information application filed by Congress MP Isha Khan Choudhury.

The SIR process and the exclusion or inclusion of names have been under debate for several months. Election Commission data show that 3,810,620 appeals had been filed by August 7, but only 82,782 had been decided, or about 2.17 percent. A total of 3,727,838 appeals were still awaiting resolution.

Choudhury said the high rate of restored names raises questions over whether genuine voters were initially removed. He also highlighted a discrepancy between 2,728,500 voters identified as ineligible during the SIR review and the 3,810,620 appeals filed, a difference of 1,082,120. He sought an explanation from the Election Commission, alleging that some appeals may have been filed by the commission or other parties to remove names.