Denied ballot but assigned booth, poll staff without voting right prepare to conduct vote

Kolkata: Several polling personnel reported for duty on Wednesday despite having been stripped of their voting rights. Their names were not restored on electoral rolls even after the tribunal's list was released on Tuesday.Among them is Jahirul Islam, a school teacher whose name was also deleted during the SIR process. He reported for poll duty on Wednesday despite his own disenfranchisement. "Despite filing an appeal, my name remains on the pending list," he said. "My wife, who is also a school teacher, remains a valid voter and hasalready been assigned election duty."Islam is currently stationed at the sector office of the Nabagram constituency. "At the moment, I am part of the reserve force and have not yet been allotted a specific duty," he added. Expressing concern over the situation, he noted that a group of 71 govt officials, including himself, has approached the Supreme Court seeking restoration of their voting rights and challenging the deletions. "There is a growing unease among govt staff who are tasked with conducting elections while being excluded from the electoral rolls," he added.Toibur Sekh, 36, a resident of Raghunathganj, reported for duty on Tuesday at the distribution centre to collect his voting kit as a presiding officer for a booth in the Jangipur constituency. Sekh said his name, along with his father's, was deleted from the voter list due to a mismatch involving his father's name.He said he was informed that deletion from the electoral roll had no bearing on his assignment as a polling official. Still, he expressed distress over the contradiction of being entrusted with supervising voting while being denied the right to cast his own ballot. Sekh said he was on polling duty in the previous three elections and that his family had lived in the area for generations. In his family, only his mother remains an eligible voter."I am upset after the final supplementary list was published because, having lost my voting rights, how can I assist others to vote? I cannot understand that, but I am simply following instructions," he wondered.Birbhum resident Mohammad Enamul Haque has been appointed as a poll officer in Rampurhat, but he will not be able to cast his own vote as his name was not restored on the electoral roll. Haque, headmaster of Hamidpur Primary School, has been a voter since 1991 and could not break the "under-adjudication" jinx despite submitting his passport and other documents."The tribunal appellate supplementary list does not contain my name, so I shall not be able to vote in my village. But I have been appointed a poll officer at a booth in Rampurhat. During the training for poll officers, I questioned the Birbhum DM and the SDO about how a deleted voter could be trained. At that time, they told me that the tribunal would look into my case. I filed my appeal with the help of the SDO. If I don't have the right to be a voter, why should I have to work for the poll?" the 50-year-old questioned.Abdus Salam, a Bengali teacher at a high school in Raiganj, has been assigned polling duty in Karandighi in North Dinajpur. Four other members of his family, whose names were under adjudication, were restored on the second supplementary list, but his name got deleted.Salam said: "I have been voting since 2004 and serving on election duty since 2011. But this time, I have been assigned poll duty in the same election in which I lost my voting rights." He also stated that after attending the first two training sessions for presiding officer duty, he was unexpectedly assigned as a first polling officer during the final training.He submitted Form 12 for postal ballot but it never arrived. Salam assumed this was because his name had been deleted from the electoral roll.
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