The West Bengal government has started a state-wide investigation after detecting an unusually high number of birth certificates issued in 2025 ahead of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll for the 2026 Assembly elections. The government has ordered a detailed scrutiny to identify fake certificates and verify records issued across the state.

Officials said the government directed authorities on Thursday to seize all registers related to birth and death certificates from municipalities and panchayats. An official, who did not wish to be named, said, “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.” The official added that authorities will examine the collected data over the next three to four months to identify fake certificates.

Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Agarwal described the exercise as a purification drive. He assured people that those who obtained birth certificates through legal procedures do not have to worry. “Action would be taken against those who are found to have procured certificates using fake documents.”

As part of the investigation, police carried out searches at several local bodies across West Bengal on Thursday. The searches included the headquarters of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Investigators examined birth and death registers, checked computer records and collected relevant documents to verify the authenticity of certificates issued.

The first official said police are also investigating specific complaints received by the government. They are collecting records from different offices as part of the inquiry. “The searches are being carried out in accordance with government directions, and no conclusion should be drawn until the inquiry is completed.”

Officials also announced a major administrative change. Elected representatives in civic bodies and panchayats will no longer have the authority to issue birth and death certificates. The government has decided that only designated government officials will issue these documents in future. Officials said this step will ensure accountability in the certification process.

Agarwal said the government started receiving complaints after the elections regarding fake birth and death certificates issued during the SIR process. He said the Director General of Police also received complaints through the State Intelligence Bureau about people obtaining identity documents with fake birth certificates. Agarwal added that some of these matters are pending before the Calcutta High Court, while the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is conducting a separate investigation.

People familiar with the matter said authorities found between 4,000 and 6,000 suspicious birth certificates in at least two locations. These include Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district and Matigara in Darjeeling district. Officials are examining these records as part of the larger state-wide investigation.

Agarwal also shared findings from a test check carried out by the government. He said authorities examined 46,998 delayed birth certificates and found at least 11,390 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 also showed a sharp rise in the number of birth certificates issued over the last three years. Authorities issued 1,21,453 birth certificates in 2023. The number increased to 3,81,591 in 2024. In 2025, it rose dramatically to 10,50,441. The sudden increase prompted the government to order the current verification exercise.

Another official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the highest number of such certificates was issued in three Muslim-majority districts—Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur. The official said these districts recorded the largest number of certificates during the period under scrutiny.

These Muslim-dominated districts and Assembly constituencies also had disproportionate SIR-linked deletions of voters. The difference in the total votes secured by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) closely matched the total number of voter deletions under the SIR exercise.

The TMC has claimed that these voter deletions helped the BJP secure victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections. The BJP has rejected this allegation and denied any connection between the deletions and the election results. The party won power in the state for the first time by securing 207 of the 294 Assembly seats, while the TMC's strength fell to 80 seats.