340 Muslim voters under scrutiny deleted from Bengal booth, BLO

A major controversy erupted in West Bengal’s Basirhat North Assembly constituency after 340 voters from a single booth were removed from the electoral roll in the recently published supplementary list.

The affected individuals, all belonging to the Muslim community from Booth no 5 in Boro Gobra village, had previously been marked as "under adjudication" in the draft roll. However, their names were deleted after the first supplementary list was published on Monday.

The situation intensified when it was discovered that even the name of the Booth Level Officer, Md Shafiul Alam, was among those deleted. In response to the mass removal, over a hundred residents staged a protest at the officer's residence and on local streets, alleging a targeted exclusion based on their community.

Affected residents and local officials have expressed deep frustration over the alleged lack of transparency from electoral authorities. Alam mentioned that his attempts to seek a resolution from the Block Development Officer of Basirhat Block II were met with the response that no further action could be taken, while the Electoral Registration Officer remained unreachable.

One of the affected voters, Kajirul Mondal, pointed out that although the Election Commission requires only one of eleven valid documents, many submitted three or four, yet their names were still purged. The protesters have alleged that the Commission acted under political influence to satisfy specific partisan demands.

Alam announced his plans to take the matter to a tribunal for legal redress.

The dispute centred on Booth No 5 under the Begumpur Bibipur Gram Panchayat in Basirhat Block II, which has a total of 992 registered voters. While 38 names were standard removals due to death or relocation, a total of 358 voters were summoned for hearings regarding their eligibility.

Although 18 of these cases were resolved in the draft list, the remaining 340 were placed under adjudication until the supplementary list was published on the 23rd, at which point they were all moved to the deleted category.

Alam said that he personally assisted these voters in filling out their forms and ensured all documents were uploaded according to Election Commission rules, yet the names were still selectively removed.

Inputs from Rahi Halder, Tapan Mandal

340 Muslim voters under scrutiny deleted from Bengal booth, BLO also in list

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