'They are here for justice, will fight for them': 43 ‘ghost’ voters join CM Mamata Banerjee on SIR protest stage, display docus

KOLKATA: Several "SIR-harassed" families who have been living in the city and suburbs for long but were deprived of their voting rights thronged chief minister Mamata Banerjee's dharna manch on Saturday, the second day of her sit-in protest at Esplanade against the "wrongful deletion" of genuine voters from the electoral roll.

The CM called over 43 "ghosts" — "dead" and "deleted" voters and their family members — on to her dais and observed a 1-minute silence at the venue in protest against the injustice meted out to these voters, who displayed their enumeration forms and documents such as Aadhaar cards. The CM stated, "These people have documents but their names have vanished. During the SIR they showed their documents but that was of no use. So, they have come to show you (the audience) the documents. They are here to demand justice. Our movement is for them."



Ashis Bhowmik (56) was among the "dead" voters from Bhowanipore assembly constituency whom the CM called on to the stage. He said, "I have lived in the Alipore area since my birth and cast my vote since 1988. But my name was deleted from the electoral roll. When I was called for the SIR hearing at New Alipore Multipurpose School, I produced all my documents required for the exercise. Despite this, why was the EC under the impression that I am a dead voter? Ever since the electoral roll was brought out, I was on tenterhooks about the deletion of my name from the roll. Today, I apprised Didi of how I was deprived of my voting right. And, when she said, I displayed my documents from the stage."

"Deleted" voters and many others who were placed under the lens of judicial scrutiny from other parts of the city also sat near the CM's stage and expressed concerns over their future.

Ashis Kumar Hela, a deleted voter from Princep Street, said, "The BLO told me that there is no ground for deletion of my name from the electoral roll since I could produce all documents, including my Madhyamik certificate. The rest of my family members, like my parents and my wife, are on the electoral roll, while my name has vanished. May I seek clarity from the EC on why it happened."

Chaitali Chakraborty, who came all the way from Dakshineswar to join the sit-in protest on Saturday, said, "Though my name is on the electoral roll, I faced harassment during the hearing. I became fed up producing my documents one after another. There was no valid ground for calling me to the hearing since I could furnish the EC-specified documents during enumeration. Why are the people of Bengal being harassed in the name of SIR?"

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