Voter list controversy in Kolkata: crowds protest across West Bengal after names deleted from electoral roll

KOLKATA: Kolkata and several districts of Bengal saw anxious crowds outside election offices on Tuesday as voters, whose names were deleted from the electoral roll, vowed to continue their fight to restore their voting rights.

Among them was Anju Mara from Jorasanko constituency, who after emerging from Jessop Building, declared: "I want to vote." Mara's is the only name among her six-member family, living at Bibi Bagan in Entally, that has been omitted. "I don't understand all these technicalities, but I want to vote, which is my right," she said.




Anju was among hundreds who converged on Survey Building, Jessop Building and the offices of district magistrates to pursue their appeals. Their common complaint was that their names were struck off despite them submitting relevant documents during hearings and that other members of their families were on the electoral roll.

Saif Parvez arrived at Jessop Building, carrying papers to file an appeal for his mother, Musaraf Parveen, whose was the only name deleted from their family after adjudication. He said election officials cited the absence of his grandparents' names in the 2002 SIR roll. "My mother is worried about how to restore her voting right. She is the only person in our family who may not be able to vote this time," he said, adding the family would continue the legal fight.

At Survey Building in Alipore, Metiabruz resident Raju Ansari said he had already moved the tribunal. He visited on Tuesday to get an update but he did not get any.

In Mominpore, Umesh Halim said the tribunal represented the last hope for many affected voters, like him. His sister, who now lives in the US, also found her name deleted. Halim wondered how did the election authorities decide they were illegitimate voters though they had valid documents, including passports.

The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday formed a three-member judges' committee, as directed by the Supreme Court, comprising former CJ of Calcutta HC T S Sivagnanam, Justice Pradipta Roy and Justice Pranab Kumar Deb, to draft an SOP for the tribunals' operations. Tribunal judges will begin their work once the SOP is finalised.

In its order on Monday, the SC urged the Calcutta High Court CJ to set up the committee to establish the procedure to be followed by all 19 appellate tribunals in Bengal. The apex court also urged the Calcutta HC CJ to have the procedure prescribed by Tuesday to accelerate the resolution of appeals. Sources said the procedure was yet to be finalised till Tuesday evening.

The EC submitted to the SC on Monday that the infrastructure was in place and appellate tribunals were ready to function allocated premises. The HC has chosen SP Mookerjee Institute at Joka as the location for the tribunals.

The EC had notified on March 20 that appeals could be filed either online through the ECI NET platform or physically at offices of the DM/SDM/SDO. The SC directed on Monday that for appeals filed offline, DM/SDM/SDO offices must issue a receipt or acknowledgement for filing.
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