For lakhs without vote, poll day is doomsday after appeals go unheard in West Bengal

KOLKATA: Last week, 33-year-old Ayub Miah had traversed about 713km from Cooch Behar to the tribunal appellate authority's office at Joka but denied entry near the gate. He couldn't meet any official to reach out with his plea for restoration of his voting right. Though he returned home after his futile attempt, he had hoped against hope to see his name on the tribunal appellate authority's supplementary list. On Wednesday, however, when he called up his BLO, he learnt that his name was not on the list.

The poll day in 152 assembly constituencies has turned into a ‘Doomsday' for lakhs of voters like Miah whose appeals to the tribunal for restoration of voting rights before April 23 yielded no results. Out of 27,16,393 voters' appeals from these constituencies, the tribunal appellate authority disposed of only 139 cases.

"My sin is I am my father's sixth child and for this, the Election Commission deprived me of my voting right. On Thursday, my siblings will go to cast their votes but I will have to stay at home. On my part, I left no stones unturned. I had been to Kolkata and with the help of the locals there, I reached the tribunal's office at Joka. I waited in vain for a response from the tribunal," said Miah.

Chote Nawab Syed Reza Ali Meerza, the 15th-generation descendant of Nawab Mir Jafar, remains out of the voter list despite filing an online appeal with the tribunal. On the eve of the polls, Meerza appeared visibly dejected over the loss of his voting rights. "I feel deeply distressed and dishonoured by this deletion," he said. "I had decided to still visit the polling booth and appeal to the presiding officer. However, my family has advised me against it, fearing further humiliation. I now find myself in a dilemma."

Sagar Shaikh, a coachman at Hazarduari in Murshidabad, had coughed up Rs 1,200 to reach the tribunal's office but he was driven away by the armed security personnel. "Today, I came to know that my name did not feature on the supplementary list. That means I will not be able to exercise the franchise despite having all documents, including passport and domicile certificate. My wife will go alone to cast her vote as her name has not been struck off. I cannot say why my name was deleted. I was told by the BLO that there was a logical discrepancy against my name," he rued.

Kalpana Mukherjee, a deleted voter from Bolpur, had been called for logical discrepancy and she had submitted all documents sought by the EC officials. But her name was deleted following a judicial scrutiny. "I appealed to the tribunal within 15 days. I was hopeful that my name would be cleared and I would be able to vote. But the reverse happened as my name was not cleared by the tribunal authority. This is for the first time I will not be able to vote," she rued.

Sabang voter Sanuyar Chitrakar, who also faced the same disappointment after the publication of the tribunal's list, rued: "I am extremely sad that I will not be able to vote this time. I appealed to the tribunal within 15 days and was hoping that my name, along with my husband's and mother's, would be cleared. But unfortunately, I was told that the decision was still pending."

Renu Khatun, the nurse from East Burdwan whose arm was chopped off by her husband and who now uses a prosthetic limb, has also found that her voting right was not restored. The 27-year-old, who had been a voter at booth 33 in the Ketugram assembly seat, had voted in the last state and Lok Sabha polls. She said: "My name has still not appeared. I'm extremely worried about whether I will be able to vote in the upcoming assembly elections. In our East Burdwan district, polling is on April 29. I will wait till April 29 to see if my name gets included on the list. There's no other option but to wait."

(Inputs from Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay & Mohammad Asif)
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