(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, Dec 6 (IANS) Almost 99 per cent of enumeration forms have been digitised during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, and the number of excludable voters stands at nearly 55 lakh.

As per the trend of digitisation done till Friday, the total number of voters, whose names are likely to be deleted from the voters' list, is 54,59,541.

The figure was 52,99,663 as on Thursday night, sources in the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, said.

"Of the 54,59,541 identified excludable voters, 23,71,239 names have been identified as deceased voters, and the rest are under the shifted, untraceable, and duplicate voters' categories. Some voters, though very few, have been deemed to be excludable because of other reasons," the CEO's office sources said.

The situation will be clearer after the draft voters' list is published on December 16.

The total number of voters as per the list on October 27 is 7,66,37,529. The SIR exercise started on November 4.

The draft voters' list will be published on December 16, while the final voters' list, after completion of all related processes, will be published on February 14.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday gave fresh instructions to electoral officers at different levels engaged in the ongoing SIR in West Bengal regarding the preparation of a separate list of deceased voters in the state.

The Commission has directed electoral officers to re-check the data of those who have already been identified as deceased voters during the digitisation and mapping of the duly filled enumeration forms with the list for 2002.

The ECI has also specified three sources from which the re-verification of data on deceased voters should be done.

The first source is the record of deaths registered with different municipal corporations, municipalities, and panchayats in the state.

The second source, as specified by the Commission, is the death records available with insurance companies and banks. The third and final source of re-verification is the list of beneficiaries under different social welfare schemes of the state government, especially those related to death benefits.

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