THE PLAYBOOK
Voter Rolls Trimmed Before the Vote
Electoral rolls are revised and citizens deleted en masse in the weeks before polling, requiring repeated judicial intervention, with the deletions always discovered after they have taken effect.
The Bureau's Forecast
The Bureau notes the rolls thin reliably ahead of polls, on a timetable it declines to publish.
Extrapolated from the dated record below. The Bureau guarantees the pattern, not the calendar.
The Record
- 2021 7.34 crore eligible voters. 2025 (October): 7.66 crore voters. 2026 (April): 6.75 crore voters Bureau coverage · The Hindu
- 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections saw widespread violence, including in Sitalkuchi (Cooch Behar) where four people died in firing by central forces Bureau coverage · NDTV
- 2026 Phase 1 of current elections also reported violence and EVM glitches, with clashes in Murshidabad and Birbhum Bureau coverage · NDTV