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New Delhi: After the special intensive revision (SIR) 2026, the final electoral roll for West Bengal, published on February 28 established an electorate of 7,04,59,284. However, according to Table 17 of the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections (2011–2036), published by the National Commission on Population under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the state’s population aged 18 and above for 2026 is projected for the same date to be 7.70 crore.

Table 17 of the Report of the Technical Group on Population Projections (2011–2036).

There is thus a gap of 65,70,716 individuals between the projected adult population and the registered electorate, following a net reduction of approximately 62 lakh voters from the pre-draft stage. This contraction has breached the statistical demographic floor, so that even if every single voter currently on the roll is valid, a massive coverage gap remains.

The demographic floor is the absolute minimum baseline of expected adult citizens based on scientific projections. If the total voters in a list drops below this floor, it becomes a mathematical impossibility for the list to be accurate without a mass, unrecorded exodus or death event.

Consequently, the Elector Recorded Percentage (ERP) has declined from 101.2% in 2024 to 91.46% in 2026. An ERP of 91.46% indicates that nearly one in 10 eligible adults is absent from the electoral roll, a deviation from the national........

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