Kolkata, Oct. 24 -- Around 45% of the voters' names in the present 2025 electoral roll of West Bengal couldn't be found in the 2002 electoral roll when the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was last rolled out in the state, officials aware of the development said on Thursday. This was revealed after the Election Commission of India (ECI) started the voter mapping process in West Bengal where elections are scheduled to be held in the first half of 2026. The exercise is a precursor to the SIR, which is likely to be rolled out in the eastern state soon. "The voter mapping process is still continuing and is likely to be completed soon. But so far around 45% of the voters' names in the present electoral roll were not matching with the 2002 voters' list when the last SIR was held in the state," said a senior poll panel official. In comparison, around 63% of the names in the 2025 voting roll in Bihar were already present in the 2003 list -- 49.6 million in a list of 78.9 million. In Bengal, East Midnapore, with 68% match, had the highest number of voters whose names matched with the 2002 voters list, an official said on condition of anonymity. West Burdwan has the lowest match with just around 40% names in the 2002 list, the official added. South 24 Parganas (50% match), North 24 Parganas (42% match) and Cooch Behar (46% match) were some of the other districts where the exercise was completed, they added. "The data from a few other districts such as Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, and the flood-hit districts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, are being compiled," the official cited above said. ECI officials have already said that the 2002 electoral roll, which was compiled after the last SIR, will be taken as the bench mark. The ECI has already uploaded the 2002 list on the website of the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer earlier this year. Booth Level Officers will be visiting house-to-house to verify the names of voters. Those with names in the 2002 list will be allowed to present the tract from the electoral roll without any further documentary evidence required. "Not a single name of any genuine person would be deleted in the SIR. Even those whose names were not there in the 2002 list need not worry. There are a range of documents which one can produce to include his or her name when BLOs start their house-to-house survey. The SIR process just becomes easier if the names match with the 2002 list," said a second official, also requesting anonymity....