‘Dead’, ‘deleted’ on dais, voters under scrutiny part of crowd

Kolkata: Several "dead" voters from different parts of the city and adjacent districts "came alive" at Esplanade during CM Mamata Banerjee's agitation against the SIR of the electoral roll, which deleted names of around 63.6 lakh voters and marked another 60 lakh "under adjudication" in the state. Voters marked "dead" were at the dharna mancha to prove that they were very much alive.

Archana Mondal, a resident of Alipore, rued that her name was struck off the roll because the SIR process marked her as a "dead" voter. The 65-year-old said, "How did the EC get the idea that I died? Even my enumeration form was submitted along with all documents, and I did not get any call for a hearing. With the final roll being published on Feb 28, I discovered that my name was not there. My son called the BLO and learnt that the EC found me dead." Like Mondal, several other citizens marked dead in the roll were present at the dharna manch on Friday.


A monk, who was the president of a Ramakrishna Sarada Mission from North 24 Parganas for over a decade, was also there on the CM's protest stage, expressing his disappointment that his name was deleted from the roll. The monk said, "I was the president of the Minakhan Ramakrishna Sarada Mission for 14 years. Despite this, my name was excluded. I am a disciple of Swami Vireshwarananda, the tenth president of Belur Math. I came to Didi today and said, if this continues, what will be the state of the country in the days ahead. From this dais, I will say, may truth prevail. I am praying to Thakur, Ma, and Swamiji for the suspension of the SIR."

A large number of protesters travelled from Konnagar in separate groups, each having around 150 to 200 people. They stated that they came to the site to raise concerns about the difficulties faced during the SIR verification process. Several admitted that while they might not know every detail of the issue, they joined the protest as people in their neighbourhoods were struggling with repeated document submissions and verification delays.

Chandrika Chakraborty, a resident of Konnagar, said, "I joined the dharna to seek clarity on the issue concerning future of so many voters whose names were either deleted or marked under adjudication. I want to hear directly from the CM about possible solutions."

Another protester, Dillip Shaw, raised concerns about his name not appearing on the revised voter list. "How did my name not come when both my parents' names were on the first list? Despite the fact that I attended the hearing, my name did not feature in the electoral roll on Feb 28," he said.

Many, who exercised their franchise for long as genuine voters in the state, flagged concerns about whether they would be able to press the EVM button this time. Manoj Singh from Amherst Street, who joined the rally before reaching the dharna site, stated that in his locality, names of 107 were currently under adjudication. A head teacher of an educational institution in Uttarpara, associated with the education dept, also joined the protest. Sumit Shaw, a gas delivery worker, said, "I came for an explanation as my name is not there in the final roll."