Kolkata, April 12 -- Election Commission data shows a sharp voter decline in West Bengal's mining and industrial belt after the draft roll, final roll and adjudication process of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with Paschim Bardhaman district recording a 15.55% decline, the steepest drop in voter rolls among the 16 districts going to polls in the first phase.

Bengal saw a net deletion of 6.2 million voters between the pre-SIR and pre-adjudication exercise, while another 2.7 million were deleted in the adjudication exercise.

Elections for the 294-member Assembly in the state are scheduled in two phases on April 23 and April 29. In the first phase, 152 assembly constituencies spread across 16 districts will go to the polls.

Among t...