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TREND | 04 Jan 2026, 10:06PM

CM Mamata urges CEC to halt 'arbitrary, flawed' SIR in West Bengal

Business Standard

Sharpening her attack on the Election Commission, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged CEC Gyanesh Kumar to halt the "arbitrary and flawed" SIR in the state, warning that its continuation in the present form could trigger "mass disenfranchisement" and "strike at the foundations of democracy". In a strongly worded letter dated December 3, Banerjee accused the commission of presiding over what she described as an "unplanned, ill-prepared and ad hoc" process marked by "serious irregularities, procedural violations, and administrative lapses". She asserted that the situation on the ground had worsened despite her two earlier communications to the chief election commissioner (CEC). "I am once again constrained to write to you in order to place on record my grave concern," Banerjee wrote, recalling that she had flagged similar issues in letters dated November 20 and December 2. "Regrettably, instead of any corrective course being adopted, the situation on the ground has only

Elections

TREND | 03 Jan 2026, 11:55PM

EC orders FIRs against five poll officials over roll lapses in Bengal

Business Standard

The Election Commission directed the registration of FIRs against five poll officials for alleged irregularities in the distribution and collection of enumeration forms during the ongoing special revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, an official said on Saturday. These officials are two Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), two Assistant Registration Officers (AROs) and a data entry operator, he said. "We have identified five state government employees, two from Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district and three from Moyna in Purba Medinipur, against whom FIRs will be filed for alleged procedural lapses in the revision exercise," he said. "The district magistrates have been asked to lodge cases and submit reports promptly," he added. Meanwhile, the EC has scaled down the logical discrepancy cases from over 1.3 crore to nearly 94.49 lakh after a thorough evaluation of the list, an official said. In the draft rolls, published on December 16, around 1.36 crore entries were flagged for .

Elections

TREND | 01 Jan 2026

UP SIR: Permanent migration led to 28.8 mn uncollectable voter forms

Business Standard

Permanent migration has emerged as the primary reason for electoral discrepancies in Uttar Pradesh, accounting for nearly 1.30 crore of the 2.88 crore uncollectable electoral forms identified during the Special Intensive Revision. Official data as of December 27, 2025, shows that permanent shifting of voters constitutes 8.40 per cent of the total electorate. Election officials said this trend reflects large-scale inter-district and inter-state migration, with the highest impact observed in urban and semi-urban areas. Apart from 1,29,77,472 cases of permanent shifting, the second largest category includes untraceable or absent electors. This accounts for 79,52,190 cases, or 5.15 per cent of the electorate, and is largely attributed to temporary migration, frequent changes in residence and inaccurate addresses. Deaths of registered voters accounted for 46,23,796 forms, or 2.99 per cent of the electorate, indicating outdated entries in the rolls due to the time gap between revisions, .

Elections

TREND | 30 Dec 2025

UP SIR schedule revised: Draft electoral roll on Jan 6, final on Mar 6

Business Standard

The Election Commission has revised the schedule for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Uttar Pradesh, with the draft voter list now slated to be published on January 6, 2026, and the final list on March 6, the state's Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said in a statement on Tuesday. According to the new schedule, claims and objections will be invited from January 6 to February 6, he said. Rinwa said the notice stage, disposal of claims and objections, and decisions on enumeration forms will continue from January 6 to February 27, after which the final electoral roll will be published on March 6. The revision of the schedule comes amid heightened scrutiny of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state, where a large-scale pruning of voter list has been carried out. The nearly 52-day SIR exercise, conducted with the theme 'Shuddh Nirvachak Namavali, Majboot Loktantra' (Clean Electoral Roll, Strong Democracy), began on November 4 and...

Bangladesh polls: BNP's Tarique Rahman files nomination papers in Dhaka

Business Standard | 30 Dec 2025 1 more

Elections

TREND | 28 Dec 2025

As BMC Election Nears, Anthony Waste Bags Contracts As Solid Waste Work Pushes On

NDTV Profit

The seven-year contracts carry an execution value of around Rs 1,300 crore and place responsibility for vehicles, manpower and maintenance with the company.

Mumbai Civic Polls: 44 Nomination Papers Filed Till Sat; 10,343 Forms Distributed

NDTV Profit | 27 Dec 2025

Elections

TREND | 27 Dec 2025

Trinamool Party's 10-member delegation to meet CEC on Dec 31 over SIR row

Business Standard

A 10-member Trinamool Congress delegation will meet Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on December 31 on the issue of Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, a source said on Saturday. According to the source, the delegation, which will include Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien, Trinamool leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively, will raise the issue of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state. The ruling party of Bengal has been raising concerns over the SIR exercise for some time now. On Saturday, Banerjee, the national general secretary of the party, demanded that the Election Commission (EC) must come out with the number of illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas out of the 58.20 lakh names deleted in the draft electoral rolls published for West Bengal under the SIR. On November 28, a Trinamool delegation had met the full bench of the EC, alleging deaths of booth-level officers (BLOs) due to the "work pressure" o

1.05 mn names deleted as EC releases Assam draft electoral rolls after SIR

Business Standard | 27 Dec 2025 3 more

Elections

TREND | 26 Dec 2025

BMC Election 2026: Mumbai Doesn't Care About Your Party It Cares About Your Work

NDTV Profit

The single most important factor influencing voting decisions is the work done by the corporator not the party symbol, not ideology, and not even the faces at the top of the political pyramid.

BMC Election 2026: Safety To Sanitation What Mumbai's Voters Want Fixed Before Anything Else

NDTV Profit | 26 Dec 2025 1 more

Elections

TREND | 26 Dec 2025

Myanmar to hold 1st election in 5 years as criticism of military rule grows

Business Standard

Myanmar will hold the first phase of a general election on Sunday, its first vote in five years and an exercise that critics say will neither restore the country's fragile democracy undone by a 2021 army takeover, nor end a devastating civil war triggered by the nation's harsh military rule. The military has framed the polls as a return to multi-party democracy, likely seeking to add a facade of legitimacy to its rule, which began after the army four years ago ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The takeover triggered widespread popular opposition that has grown into a civil war. The fighting has complicated holding the polls in many contested areas. Voting will be held in different parts of the country in three phases, with the second on Jan. 11 and the third on Jan. 25. Human rights and opposition groups say the vote will be neither free nor fair and that power is likely to remain in the hands of military leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. Critics doubt a real ..

Elections

TREND | 22 Dec 2025

Mamata alleges gross errors in EC's SIR exercise, accuses poll body of bias

Business Standard

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday lashed out at the Election Commission, alleging that there were gross errors in the SIR exercise conducted so far in the state. Addressing a meeting of TMC's booth level agents at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here, Banerjee also alleged that the EC was appointing observers without informing the state govt, and working to foster the BJP's interests. The Election Commission is working only as per the directions of the BJP. There are gross errors in mapping of voters during the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in the state, she alleged. The TMC supremo also asserted that cental officers who have been appointed micro observers for SIR hearings have little knowledge of the local language, and are unfit to conduct the verifications during the second phase of the ongoing revision exercise.

'Purified electoral rolls' crucial for healthy democracy: CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Business Standard | 22 Dec 2025

Elections

TREND | 20 Dec 2025

Over 2.4 mn voters remain untraced after enumeration phase in Kerala SIR

Business Standard

Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar on Saturday said that 24,08,503 voters remain untraced after the enumeration stage of the SIR of the electoral rolls in the state. He was speaking at an all-party meeting convened to review the SIR procedures. Kelkar presented the SIR figures after the completion of the enumeration process. According to the data, 24,08,503 enumeration forms remain uncollected out of 2.78 crore existing voters in the state, accounting for 8.65 per cent. Of these, 6,49,885 pertain to deceased persons, 6,45,548 voters were found untraceable, and 8,16,221 voters were identified as having permanently shifted from their registered addresses. In addition, 1,36,029 duplicate voters and 1,60,830 voters falling under other categories were identified. Kelkar said the draft electoral roll will be published on December 23. He said issues related to the voters' list can be addressed during the grievance redressal period from December 23 to January 22, 2026. Also,