Ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal, the Election Commission has released new figures on voter enrolment. Since the draft list was published up to the close of nominations, nearly five lakh new voters have joined the rolls.

Officials say around seven lakh applications were filed through Form-6, and after verification, eligible names were added. On February 28, when the final list was released, 1 lakh 88 thousand 207 new voters were included. In the following month, another five lakh names were added.

District-level data shows that the highest increase was observed in North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata, and East Midnapore. North 24 Parganas alone recorded over 71,000 new voters, while Kolkata added nearly 44,000. But the Commission’s figures also revealed that the number of female voters has declined.

At present, West Bengal’s total voter count stands at 6 crore 82 lakh 51 thousand and eight. Among them, more than 3 crores 49 lakhs are men, just above 3 crores 33 lakhs are women, and 1,257 voters are registered under the third gender category. Commission sources note that once pending tribunal cases are resolved, the numbers may rise further.