The West Bengal government has launched a state-wide scrutiny after detecting what it called an abnormally high number of birth certificates issued in 2025 ahead of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll for the 2026 assembly elections.
Officials said orders were issued on Thursday to seize all registers related to birth and death certificates. “We are collecting all the registers that municipalities and panchayats maintained. Data will be gathered, and the registers will be returned to the local bodies after two to three days,” said an official who did not want to be named. The data will be scrutinised over three to four months to identify fake certificates.
Chief secretary Manoj Kumar Agarwal called this a purification exercise. He assured that those with genuine certificates procured through legal channels have nothing to worry about. “Action would be taken against those who are found to have procured certificates using fake documents.”
Police on Thursday conducted searches at local bodies across West Bengal, including at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation headquarters, as part of the investigation into alleged irregularities in the issuance of birth and death certificates. Investigators examined birth and death registers, scrutinised computer records and collected documents.
The first official cited above said police are also acting on specific complaints and collecting records as part of the investigation. “The searches are being carried out in accordance with government directions, and no conclusion should be drawn until the inquiry is completed.”
{{/usCountry}}The first official cited above said police are also acting on specific complaints and collecting records as part of the investigation. “The searches are being carried out in accordance with government directions, and no conclusion should be drawn until the inquiry is completed.”
{{/usCountry}}Officials said that elected representatives in civic bodies and panchayats will no longer have the powers to issue birth and death certificates. “Only designated government officials will be authorised to issue birth and death certificates, as they can be held accountable.”
Agarwal said after elections, they received complaints about fake birth and death certificates issued during the SIR. He added that the state police chief also received complaints through the state intelligence bureau about the procurement of identity documents using fake birth certificates. Agarwal said some cases are pending before the Calcutta high court and the Criminal Investigation Department is also probing.
People aware of the matter said 4000-6000 such certificates were issued in at least two places, Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas and Matigara in Darjeeling.
Agarwal cited a test check and said at least 11390 of 46998 delayed birth certificates issued were found to be fake. “Out of the 11,24,000 digitised certificates scrutinised during the test-check, around 1,80,000 were found to be fake,” he said
Government data showed a major jump in the issuance of birth certificates in 2025. In 2023, 1,21,453 such certificates were issued and 3,81,591 in 2024. In 2025, the number jumped to 10,50,441.
A third official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the highest number of such certificates was issued in three Muslim-majority districts, Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur.
There were disproportionate SIR-linked deletions of voters in Muslim-dominated districts and assembly constituencies. The difference in absolute votes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) polled was similar to total SIR deletions. The TMC has maintained that the deletions helped the BJP win West Bengal elections. The BJP, which swept to power in the state for the first time, winning 207 of 294 seats, has rejected this link. The TMC’s tally was reduced to 80 seats.