SIR’s whims in Bengal: Dead mom on voter list but hubby, son off

KOLKATA: Seventy-seven-year-old Mina Jalal — who was under adjudication for SIR — never came to know in her lifetime that she qualified to be a voter. The voter of Chowringhee Assembly constituency passed away on March 27, days before being named by the EC in the final list of April 9. Though she qualified, her husband — Jalaluddin Ahmed Siddique — a resident of Weston Street in Bowbazar for over seven decades, did not pass the adjudication process, nor did her son Imran Zaki.

Both have moved the tribunal, but three of her other sons and her daughter have qualified as "voters" — following the submission of enumeration forms.


"She was sick as she was a diabetic and was surely under mental stress as she knew that she could not vote in the assembly poll, but when her name was cleared by the EC, she was no more — it is an irony of fate. She always wanted to be a voter as she voted in all the polls in the past and this time she was a bit distressed as she, along with my father and I, were all pushed to face the adjudication process. As she was sick, the BLO came and collected all the documents," said social entrepreneur and educationist Imran Zaki.

He said that his father, an 81-year-old businessman and social worker, is also tense as they failed to pass the adjudication. My father is a former honorary general secretary of the Mohammedan Sporting Club. He was GS in 1989. "We have all our names in the SIR 2002 and still, after sharing all data and documents, we are constantly being harassed. They are not giving any reason why our names were deleted. There should be transparency on the part of the EC. They are playing hide-and-seek with a mala fide intent."

"Our family has been living on Weston Street of Bowbazar for over seven decades where our grandfather Nazir Ahmed stayed, who was with the British Police and still we are staying in the same building," Zaki added.

He said his father is very worried as he fears that he cannot cast his vote this time and thus the basic tenets of democratic rights are going to be affected.

"They asked for documents and we submitted. We belong to this country and are associated with the city from the British era. How can they delete our names? I earlier hosted the former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi for a voters' awareness programme and the paradox is that my name and that of my father were deleted, for no fault of ours. Whatever documents I have, I gave to the BLO. I have a passport, voter card, ration card, driving licence, class X and XII pass certificate copies along with graduation copy. This is surely a deliberate attempt to harass and heckle people who are genuine citizens of the country."

"My brothers — Arshad Jamal, Naiyer Iqbal, Asif Iqbal and — sister Firdous Misbah are lucky enough as they got through only after they submitted the enumeration forms and they did not suffer this trauma. It was only for my parents and me who were sent to adjudication, though my brothers stay at the same address. While heading for the tribunal, I am very optimistic that we will get justice as retired judges are pragmatic and they will clear our case. This is mockery of the democratic system. We hope we will be enrolled soon," he added.
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