SIR gets kicking: Bengal, Bihar to bar deleted names from social welfare schemes

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, an Election Commission-led exercise to clean up voter lists by removing dead, duplicate or ineligible names, has now expanded beyond polls, and into plugging of leakages in welfare schemes in West Bengal and Bihar.

Days after the BJP formed its first government in West Bengal under CM Suvendu Adhikari, the administration signalled that those whose names were deleted during the SIR process would not be eligible for several government welfare schemes. Similar measures are underway in Bihar, where the BJP-led NDA government has begun removing beneficiaries from ration lists after SIR deletions.

Simultaneously, Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary said people whose names were deleted from the state's electoral rolls would not be entitled to government benefits, including ration and welfare schemes, according to a report in The Indian Express.

By linking the databases of welfare schemes with the revised electoral rolls, the SIR exercise is now the basis of the two state governments' identification of duplicate, deceased and allegedly ineligible beneficiaries to plug leakages in welfare delivery systems.

The Election Commission's SIR was launched ahead of the 2025 Assembly elections in Bihar and 2026 West Bengal Vidhan Sabha polls to purify electoral rolls and remove allegedly ineligible names. While the SIR removed around 65 lakh names in Bihar, around 91 lakh names were deleted in West Bengal. Out of the 91 lakh removed in West Bengal, over 27 lakh people remained on the list of "logical discrepancies", and could not vote in the Assembly polls on April 23 and 29.

While the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) model reduced leakages in welfare delivery by cutting out middlemen and ghost beneficiaries, major gaps still remain in the system. Problems like incomplete Aadhaar-bank linkage, fake and duplicate beneficiaries, diversion of funds and inclusion-exclusion errors.

The states seem to be trying to plug the leakages now through the SIR-verified database.

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram called the moves by Bengal and Bihar "outrageous".

Adding that the moves raised serious questions, Chidambaram said, "Is citizenship the basis for inclusion in the electoral roll, or, is inclusion in the electoral roll the basis of citizenship? The Supreme Court should ponder the question".

NO WELFARE SCHEMES FOR NAMES REMOVED IN SIR IN BENGAL

After taking charge on May 10, the BJP government of Bengal made it clear that people deleted from the voter list during the SIR, including those whose appeals are pending before the tribunals, would not "for the time being" receive the benefits of its schemes like, Annapurna Bhandar scheme, a BJP manifesto scheme aimed to replace the Trinamool Congress' Lakshmir Bhandar, reported The Telegraph.

"We will introduce the Annapurna Bhandar for women from June 1. Women will receive Rs 3,000 a month. But those still being verified by the tribunals will not be included in the list of beneficiaries for the time being," West Bengal's Minister for Women and Child Welfare and Social Welfare, Agnimitra Paul, was quoted as saying by the Kolkata-based newspaper.

"We will do an analysis before June 1. Those whose names have been struck off, if they are receiving then they are not supposed to. Someone who is dead is not supposed to get it. Someone who is not a citizen of this country, they are not supposed to get it. So we will do this analysis. Those whose names have been struck off, how many of them have been getting Lakshmir Bhandar, their names will be removed," Paul told reporters.

"If any of them later get back onto the electoral rolls, she will be included in the list of beneficiaries," a senior official told The Telegraph.

West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari had on Tuesday said that no existing welfare scheme would be discontinued.

"All social programmes of the government, which may have been started 30 years or 10 years back, will continue. However, all such schemes will now function through a transparent process. No deceased person, illegal infiltrator, or non-Indian individual will be allowed to avail benefits meant for citizens of the state," Adhikari was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

The SIR exercise in Bengal became controversial in minority-heavy and migrant-dominated regions, where the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress alleged that it was aimed at voter suppression.

BANK PASSBOOKS TO BE CANCELLED, NO RATION SCHEME FOR SIR-DELETED NAMES: BIHAR CM

Like the one in West Bengal, a similar process is underway in Bihar under the NDA government led by CM Samrat Choudhary.

The Bihar government has stated that individuals deleted during SIR will not be eligible for welfare benefits and ration schemes, reported The Indian Express on Wednesday.

"People whose names have been deleted from the Bihar electoral roll will not be entitled to any government benefits, including ration and other welfare schemes," Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary told the newspaper. "Bank passbooks of those deleted would also be cancelled in due course of time," he added.

Elaborating the impact on Bihar's ration card-holders, Bihar Food and Consumer Protection Minister Ashok Choudhary said, "The names of about five lakh people have been deleted from among ration-card holders post-SIR in the state," reported The Indian Express.

The developments in Bihar and West Bengal by their respective BJP-led governments, indicate a big SIR-linked policy shift. The governments have banked on the SIR data to determine the basis for welfare eligibility. The voter-list cleanup, which might not end up expelling illegal immigrants, could help in plugging the leakages in scheme delivery, and help the states save on taxpayer money.

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