West Bengal polls: Supplementary list toys with voters throughout the day

Kolkata: Day-long anxiety among several lakhs of electors yielded nothing as they kept on trying till midnight but could not access the first supplementary list to know if they passed the adjudication hurdles. Some electors were glued to the ECI website till reports last came in around midnight, trying to access the ‘elusive' list even though the chief electoral officer, Bengal, Manoj Agarwal, announced earlier in the evening that the supplementary list would be out after 9 pm. Tuesday will be nerve-wracking as citizens hunt for the supplementary list to check if their names figure on it.

Maya Chatterjee, a Behala resident, said, "I tried to track my name but could not access the supplementary list on the website, maybe due to a technical glitch. I tried several times. I have been living in anxiety for the past couple of days. I am an octogenarian and not responsible for the mistake, for which I came under adjudication. During the hearing I produced all documents needed to mitigate the logical discrepancy, but my name featured in the adjudication category."




JU research scholar Shah Umayer Ahamed said, "My mother, Arafatun Nesa, a voter from Deganga, is still under the ‘adjudication' category despite submitting all documents, including passport, documents of her father and mother during the hearing. I searched her name on the EC website by submitting the voter ID card number, but it is showing under adjudication, which may be the old one. Even at 10.30 pm, I am not sure whether the supplementary list is out. She is extremely tense as she fears losing her voting right."

Tapan Mandal (34), a resident of Bagbazar, said he and his elder brother were called for a hearing because his father's surname appeared as Bose in the 2002 SIR roll, while in all their other documents, including official records, the surname is written as ‘Basu'. "My elder brother's name was included in the final roll, but my name was sent for final scrutiny. I submitted all documents and appeared in the hearing. I gave all original documents, including the court affidavit, to the BLO again, but despite all my efforts, I am living under uncertainty. I am going to bed with the anxiety that I've been grappling with since the release of the final roll. I will try to find the supplementary list tomorrow."

An AERO in north Kolkata rued that his phone was flooded with calls from the members of different political parties post 9 pm.

"Even the local councillor called me to ask how to access the list," he said.

Septuagenarian Soumik Bhattacharya, an elector from the APC Road area, who was marked under adjudication, was sitting in front of the computer till midnight in the hope of seeing the supplementary list, but to no avail. "Being a heart patient with several other ailments, I take medicines at night. I waited for long for the list but there was no sign of it till I went to bed. Was it a joke that the first supplementary list would be out post 9 pm?" asked Bhattacharya.

Researcher Sabir Ahamed said, "My father, Sheikh Sirajuddin, is an 80-year-old and has voted multiple times in Lok Sabha and assembly elections, and is in extreme mental stress. I tried to track his name on the website but couldn't find the supplementary list on it. I called our BLO but he said he has no clue. After submitting passport and other relevant documents, his name was shown as ‘Under Adjudication' on the voter list. Apart from my father, there are other members of my family who were under adjudication. They also couldn't access the list on the website."

Another JU research scholar and an elector of Magrahat West, Musa Kalim Molla, has been trying to track his name from 8 pm but could not find the list on the website. "I am worried. When I submitted my voter ID number, it was showing under adjudication. I was called for hearing because progeny mapping was greater than six."