Amid reports that voters who do not cast their votes in the upcoming West Bengal elections may face deletion from future electoral rolls, Bengali migrants living in New Delhi are returning to their native districts to ensure they can vote in the state elections scheduled for April 23 and 29.
Several migrant workers from West Bengal reported instances of deletions or discrepancies in the electoral rolls following the revision exercise. As a result, they are travelling back home not only to cast their votes but also to verify or correct their voter registration status before the April 19 deadline.
One migrant labourer said his name has not yet appeared on the voter list. Of the four brothers in his family, only one has been listed, while the other three are currently being treated as "foreigners." He added that although people across his settlement plan to travel for voting, arranging transport has become difficult due to the large number of travellers. He also noted that while some names, particularly of those who voted in 2002 have been included, others have been delayed, leaving time for re-verification before the deadline.
"Our voting is on the 23rd, and we will go to cast our votes. People from the whole settlement will go, but since so many are going, there is some issue with tickets (travel). Some people's names are on the list--those who voted in 2002--but for others, the names came late or are delayed. They also have a chance to get it sorted; the deadline is 19th April, and there's time for re-verification. So people will start going from the 1st. My name is not on the list yet--it hasn't come. Among four brothers, only one has his name on the list; the other three don't. Right now, we three brothers are considered 'foreigners,' and one brother is 'Indian'," he told ANI.
Another migrant from Cooch Behar said she plans to travel home with her family to vote and expressed confidence that such issues may not be widespread now. She acknowledged, however, that similar problems had affected members of the previous generation, with some relatives having their names removed from voter lists in the past.
"Yes, I will also go with my family to vote. I haven't really heard anything like that. Basically, this issue happened with the last generation. I don't think something like this can happen now. I have many relatives whose names were removed earlier--there was an issue created at that time," she told ANI.
A third migrant shared that while his own name remains on the list, his wife's has been deleted without explanation. He said such cases are not isolated, adding that in his family, both his wife's and sister-in-law's names have been removed from the electoral rolls.
"Yes, we will go to vote. Yes, names have been removed--my wife's vote was removed. Mine is fine, but my wife's vote got deleted; I don't know why. There are many such cases where names have been removed. In my family, two votes were removed--my wife's and my sister-in-law's," said the person.
Earlier on March 24, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee resumed her criticism over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, alleging that a nexus between the Election Commission of India and the BJP is attempting to strip people of their voting rights.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has verbally remarked that the Election Commission of India (ECIs) decision to undertake Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of voter rolls has undergone relatively smoothly in States, apart from West Bengal.
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant remarked that there was hardly any litigation (court dispute) in terms of SIR exercise in other states.
"Except West Bengal, whichever states where SIR is done, everywhere it went smoothly. Even in other States there are complications, if not equally, but there are complications. But by and large hardly any litigation came from other States", the CJI said.
The remarks came as the Court was hearing a batch of pleas flagging various procedural irregularities in the ECIs SIR in West Bengal. Considering the peculiarity of the situation, the apex court had earlier issued.
Currently, the Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal is taking place under supervision of the judiciary. After the SIR exercise, the total number of voters in West Bengal now stands at 7,04,59,284 voters (7.04 crore) as compared to 7,66,37,529 (7.66 crore) before the SIR exercise, showing a change of more than 61 lakh names in the list.
As per the Commission, 60,06,675 electors were under adjudication, and the first supplementary list of adjudicated names has been released.
The allegations come amid heightened political tensions in West Bengal, with parties gearing up for the upcoming state Assembly elections. The state will go to the polls in two phases, with voting scheduled on April 23 and April 29, while counting will take place on May 4.
In the 2021 Assembly elections in the state held in eight phases, the Trinamool Congress recorded a landslide victory with 213 seats amid an intense contest with the BJP, which jumped to 77 seats. Congress and Left Front drew a blank in the last state polls.
