1.4L off rolls in Darj, posters slam BJP MP

Darjeeling: With concerns rising over the deletion of about 1.4 lakh voters' names in Darjeeling district following the publication of the final rolls on Saturday, posters targeting BJP MP Raju Bista appeared at the Hill town's Chowk Bazar on Wednesday.The district had 12,92,857 voters as of Oct 27, 2025, but after the SIR exercise, the number has come down to 11,48,209.
Bista said he would quit politics if genuine voters' names were permanently deleted, and assured that 99.9% of the names currently ‘under adjudication' would be included in supplementary list.One of the posters, put up in the name of the "people of Darjeeling", read: "Stop the conspiracy to turn 50,000 Gorkhas into refugees. We strongly oppose it." The messages also questioned the SIR process.Bista claimed that the SIR exercise had been unnecessarily turned into a political issue. He blamed the district administration for the deletion of names and the large number of cases marked "under adjudication"."Many genuine voters found their names missing due to administrative negligence. The BJP had no role in it," he said.Bista said he had written to the Election Commission (EC) seeking accountability."Surname-related discrepancies also created complications. The judicial hearings are being conducted by judges based in Hills who understand the region, but surname issues added to the confusion. To address this, I will write to the Union home minister seeking a gazette notification to resolve the matter," Bista added.