West Bengal polls: At least 35 Missionaries of Charity nuns fail to clear SIR hurdle

KOLKATA: Around 35 nuns of the Missionaries of Charity (MoC), an order formed by Mother Teresa and headquartered in Kolkata, have found that their names have been struck off the voter list following judicial scrutiny.

The MoC has now written to the Election Commission, and the nuns are moving the tribunal against these deletions. Several MoC nuns have also been cleared as Chowringhee voters in the SIR process.




A source said the deleted sisters are also filling out Form 6 to be reinstated as new voters, adding that more sisters might be on the list.

When TOI called the Missionaries of Charity, one of the sisters said, "Many sisters have been deleted from the voter roll despite attending hearing and submitting relevant documents. We have written to the ECI officials in Delhi and are awaiting their reply. Meanwhile, many sisters are going to Sealdah court for further processes."

The adjudication deleted list number 5 of Chowringhee assembly constituency (ward 62, part numbers 210 and 211), published by the EC, shows names of at least 35 sisters of the Missionaries of Charity have been deleted from the electoral roll. Among those are sisters aged 70 to 80 years. Many sisters are between 50 and 69 years, while several are in their 30s and 40s.

They either gave the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity or Nirmala Shishu Bhavan as their permanent address. A local source said, "Over 120 sisters from the Missionaries of Charity were called for hearing in the first lot as per ECI guidelines as they were not mapped to the last SIR of any state or UT, including Bengal's 2002 SIR roll, and could not show any linkages."

The deleted list number 5 reveals that many sisters had put their father's name in the SIR enumeration forms, while at least a dozen of them had named Mother Teresa as their mother or parent. A sister had also put Mother Teresa's immediate successor, Sister Nirmala, as parent. "No reasons were cited for deletion," said a source, adding, "In the final electoral roll published on Feb 28, names of many sisters were cleared as Chowringhee voters while others were kept under adjudication.

Those cleared had given Mother House or the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan as their permanent address. While many had written their father's name, there were nearly 15 to 20 sisters who had named Mother Teresa as their mother or parent. A few others had listed Sister Nirmala as their parent."

A sister said, "We are religious sisters belonging to a congregation. We consider Mother Teresa and Sister Nirmala as our spiritual mothers, so many of the sisters named them as mothers or parents."

An EC source said those born before 1987 had to produce a personal document from the 12 listed documents, while those born after 1987 had to produce a self document along with a document from either their father or mother from the ECI-listed documents. "During hearing, the nuns tried to provide as many documents as possible, including passport, PAN, Aadhaar card, certificate from church and others.

But many could not provide documents of their parents or birth certificates, making it difficult to prove linkages," said an EC source. Sitting MLA and TMC candidate from Chowringhee Nayna Bandyopadhyay said, "It is unfortunate that names of MoC sisters have been removed."
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