The final electoral roll for West Bengal is scheduled to be published on February 28.The SIR in West Bengal is coming to a close with the publication of the final roll on February 28. With Assembly elections slated to be announced soon after, any wrongful deletion now could disenfranchise voters with no time for correction.Updated: February 25, 2026 06:13 AM ISTRaising concerns that eligible voters could be deleted from the final electoral roll during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, TMC MP Dola Sen has told the Supreme Court that Election Commission-appointed micro-observers were allegedly overriding decisions taken by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), the statutory authority for inclusion and deletion of electors.Sen, who is a petitioner before the Supreme Court challenging the SIR, also submitted in two applications filed on February 16 and February 18 that officials were allegedly logging into the ECINET portal from locations other than where they were deputed, and that documents uploaded to the system were turning “blurry” after submission.The final electoral roll for West Bengal is scheduled to be published on February 28. The EC did not respond to a request from The Indian Express seeking comment on Sen’s allegations.While the EC announced the SIR in nine states and three Union Territories on October 27 last year, it deployed micro-observers only in West Bengal, which was a first. On February 4, while defending its decision to appoint 8,100 micro-observers, who are Central Government employees, the EC told the Supreme Court that their role was to assist EROs and Assistant EROs (AEROs). “It is false to suggest that statutory powers have been vested in the micro-observers,” the EC had said.In her February 16 application, Sen submitted that micro-observers were allegedly continuing to exercise powers to review ERO decisions, in violation of the Supreme Court’s February 9 order directing that they only assist the prescribed statutory authority.“If such appropriate directions are not granted, the Order dated 09.02.2026 passed by this Hon’ble Court will be frustrated and grave prejudice will be caused to lakhs of electors who may be deleted from the Final Electoral Roll, despite being eligible to vote,” Sen’s application stated.She alleged that the micro-observers, who are Group B and C officers, were using the ECINET portal to review decisions taken by EROs and AEROs from the Group A and B categories. She cited 13 cases in which electors cleared by statutory authorities were allegedly later marked for review by micro-observers.Story continues below this ad“All these cases pertain to various electors, most of whom are already mapped to previous SIR rolls and have filed Enumeration Forms — but who have been made to undergo the hardship of collating documents, appearing for hearings on the pretext of frivolous logical discrepancies, and have finally been approved by election officials — only for such decisions to seemingly be set aside by Micro-Observers,” the application said.Sen further claimed that between February 9 and February 11 alone, over 7 lakh electors were “reviewed” by micro-observers.“These actions directly impact electors who have undergone the statutory process, produced documents, and secured approval from the competent statutory authority, only to have such decisions reopened or placed in jeopardy through extra-statutory review,” she said.The petitioner also raised concerns regarding the ECINET portal, which is used by EROs, AEROs and micro-observers to process forms. She annexed purported screenshots, alleging that after February 14, the option for EROs and AEROs to upload documents had been removed from the interface.Story continues below this adWhile February 14 was the last date for hearings, the Supreme Court had granted EROs and AEROs a one-week extension until February 21 to scrutinise documents.Sen also submitted screenshots allegedly showing electors being marked for review by micro-observers on grounds such as “no document of elector found to match with father’s name”, despite extracts of the 2002 electoral roll having been submitted along with the relevant details.In a separate application filed on February 18, Sen alleged that login credentials issued to the 30 special roll observers appointed by the EC were being used from locations other than those to which they had been deputed. For instance, she claimed that one such login was used from the Tea Board Office in Kolkata.She further alleged that on February 18, electors who had been “parked for the final roll” by EROs or AEROs on the ECINET portal were “pushed back” for review by observers.Story continues below this ad“More than 5 lakhs Parked Electors are now pushed into review which also includes cases of Logical Discrepancy. The number of Parked Electors pushed into review by RO/MO [roll observer/ micro-observer] is increasing day by day,” the application stated.According to Sen, another modification to the ECINET portal on February 18 left EROs and AEROs with only two options after an observer’s review — either agree and mark an elector as “ineligible”, or disagree. If the ERO disagreed, there was no option to mark the elector for inclusion in the final roll.She also alleged “serious technical anomalies” in the portal, stating that documents and Enumeration Forms earlier uploaded by Booth Level Officers (BLOs), AEROs and EROs, and clearly visible at the time, had subsequently become blurred, inaccessible or effectively invisible. Some electors were then allegedly marked by observers for review due to the absence of visible documents.The TMC MP’s charges come at a time when the SIR in West Bengal is coming to a close with the publication of the final roll on February 28. With Assembly elections slated to be announced soon after, any wrongful deletion now could disenfranchise voters with no time for correction.© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:TMC