Kolkata . The process of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter list has started in West Bengal. In this series, the main opposition parties of the state, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) i.e. CPI(M), have appointed their respective booth-level agents (BLAs). According to data available with the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, the BJP has appointed 24,858 BLAs till 5 pm on Tuesday, while the CPI(M) has declared 18,706 booth-level agents. Both the parties are ahead of Congress and ruling TMC in BLA appointments. Sources in the Chief Electoral Officer’s office said the Trinamool Congress appointed only 13,526, while the Congress stood fourth by appointing only 5,797 BLAs.
According to the data, the total number of booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by recognized national and state level political parties registered with the Election Commission is currently more than 63 thousand. These include BLA-1 and BLA-2.
BLA-1 represents the party for an assembly constituency, while BLA-2 represents the party concerned for a polling station.
The number of BLAs appointed by political parties registered with the Election Commission is very less. Therefore, the district election officials have requested all political parties to deploy one agent per booth. He also assured that the BLOs will maintain regular contact with the BLAs of all recognized parties during the SIR.
The Election Commission of India has started the second phase of SIR process in 12 states of the country including West Bengal. The Commission had announced the second phase of the SIR process on October 27. Counting work will take place from November 4 to December 4.
The draft voter list will be released on December 9, after which the round of claims and objections will run from December 9 to January 8, 2026. The notice stage (for hearing and verification) will take place between December 9 and January 31, 2026. The work of special intensive revision of voter lists will conclude with the release of the final voter list on February 7 next year.
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