India, March 1 -- The Election Commission of India (ECI) published the first part of the final electoral roll for West Bengal on Friday, dropping 6.18 million names and keeping 70.46 million voters in the list after the Special Intensive Revision that lasted nearly four months.

To be sure, another six million people were flagged under a controversial "logical discrepancy" category and their final status is currently being adjudicated by around 500 serving and former judicial officers.

ECI published the final rolls after the Supreme Court ordered it to not withhold its release pending a final decision on the fate of those under scrutiny.

West Bengal is the only state to have introduced such a provision in the SIR exercise, which started...