BJP Demands Bengal SIR Audit Over 'Impossible' Speed, Yet Bihar Showed Higher Rates

New Delhi: West Bengal assembly leader of the opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari has demanded an audit of the state’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), questioning the integrity of recent electoral roll updates. Adhikari flagged a specific increase of 1.25 crore entries over a three-day period – November 26 to 28 – calling the jump from 5.5 crore to 6.75 crore an "abnormal surge" and "statistically impossible."

However, official data from the Election Commission of India (ECI) contradicts the claim that such speeds are unachievable. Records from the Bihar special intensive revision in July 2025 demonstrate that the election machinery, using the ECINet portal and Booth Level Officers, can process data at nearly double the rate currently under question.

During the Bihar revision, the commission’s digitisation speed peaked significantly higher than the West Bengal figures. Between July 8 and July 11, the cumulative number of digitised forms rose from 1.43 crore to 3.73 crore. This amounts to 2.3 crore forms processed in just three days – roughly 85% higher than the volume Adhikari described as impossible.

The high-speed processing was not an isolated event. Immediately following that peak, the commission digitised another 2.01 crore forms between July 11 and July 14, bringing the total to 5.74 crore. Furthermore, ECI data from July 12 shows that the infrastructure is capable of handling 93 lakh forms in a single 24-hour window.

The evidence indicates that digitising 1.25 crore entries in three days is well within the proven operational capacity of the Election Commission. The surge cited in West Bengal falls below the peak throughput established during similar exercises in Bihar.

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