The names of dead, fake or ineligible voters have been removed from the electoral roll through the Election Commission’s Special Rigorous Correction (SIR) process. Now this process is not only limited to elections. Governments of West Bengal and Bihar have decided to exclude ineligible beneficiaries from government welfare schemes based on this list. Through this initiative, both the states want to prevent wastage of government funds.
After the formation of the BJP government led by West Bengal Chief Minister Subvendu Adhikari, the administration made it clear that those whose names were omitted from the electoral roll would not get the benefits of government schemes. Similarly, in Bihar, the NDA government led by Chief Minister Samrat Chowdhury has started the process of excluding those whose names have been deleted from the electoral rolls from ration and other government schemes.
The SIR process was introduced to clean the electoral rolls ahead of the 2025 Bihar and 2026 West Bengal assembly elections. It cut about 6.5 million names in Bihar and about 9.1 million in West Bengal. More than 2.7 million of the 9.1 million excluded in West Bengal could not vote in the last assembly elections. According to the government, the new data will be used to implement projects properly by addressing issues like incomplete linking of Aadhaar and banks, fake beneficiaries etc.
West Bengal Women and Child Welfare Minister Agnimitra Pal has said that BJP’s Annapurna Bhandar scheme will be launched in the state from June 1 instead of Trinamool Congress’s Lakshmi Bhandar scheme. Under this women will get Rs 3,000 per month. However, those whose names have been deleted from the voter list or whose cases are still pending before the Tribunal will be denied this facility. Chief Minister Subvendu Adhikari said that no old government scheme will be scrapped but it will be ensured that dead persons, illegal immigrants or non-Indians do not get government benefits. Trinamool Congress strongly opposed this process in minority and migrant areas.
Similar strict measures have been taken in Bihar too. Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary told reporters that those whose names were deleted from the voter list would be ineligible for government schemes and their bank passbooks may be canceled later. Food and Consumer Protection Minister Ashok Chowdhury said names of around 500,000 people have already been removed from the ration card list.
Both senior Congress leader and MP P Chidambaram strongly criticized the state’s decision. He urged the Supreme Court to consider the matter, raising the important question of whether names are included in the voter list on the basis of citizenship or whether the names in the voter list are the basis of citizenship. Both states’ decisions signal a major shift in the distribution of government projects in the future.
