West Bengal’s large-scale verification of birth certificates has found more than 1.61 lakh suspected fake documents across older physical certificates and digitised records, according to details visible in a News18 report. The verification exercise, based on district-wise data available up to June 6, 2026, has revealed substantial discrepancies and renewed attention on an issue that has remained politically and administratively contentious for years.
Older Certificates Show High Suspicion Rate
The report says 46,995 birth certificates issued more than one year ago were taken up for verification. Of these, 44,520 certificates, or 94.73%, were verified.
Among the verified older certificates, 33,548 were found to be genuine, while 10,972 were identified as not genuine. This means around 24.6% of the verified birth certificates issued more than one year earlier were found to be non-genuine or suspected to be fake.
Digitised Records Also Flagged
The verification exercise also covered digitised birth records. Out of 11,26,835 digitised birth certificates, authorities verified 10,15,880 certificates, amounting to 90.15% of the records.
Among the verified digitised records, 8,65,706 were found to be genuine, while 1,50,174 were identified as not genuine. Taken together, the exercise identified more than 1.61 lakh suspected fake birth certificates across both categories.
District-Wise Pattern Draws Attention
For birth certificates issued more than one year ago, Kolkata recorded the highest number of suspected fake certificates at 4,287, followed by Murshidabad with 3,463, Purulia with 889 and Darjeeling with 611.
Among digitised records, the highest numbers of suspected fake certificates were found in Uttar Dinajpur with 58,509, North 24 Parganas with 19,709, Malda with 16,712 and Birbhum with 8,935.
The report also noted comparatively low verification rates in several districts, including Purba Medinipur at 37.39%, Purba Bardhaman at 66.85%, Paschim Bardhaman at 71.91% and Darjeeling at 75.62%. It said the issue drew attention during the Special Intensive Revision process of electoral rolls after a case involving a Baranagar resident triggered controversy over the authenticity of a birth certificate.
