Will we, won’t we: SIR-deleted voters oscillate between despair and hope 24 hours before SC deadline for EC

KOLKATA: Murshidabad resident Sagar Shaikh ekes out a living by plying a horse-drawn carriage for tourists at Hazarduari and wins bread for his wife and two kids. Four days ahead of the assembly poll in his town, he travelled about 150 km by train and coughed up around Rs 1,200 for his trip to the office of the appellate tribunal authority at Joka to enquire about the status of his appeal for restoration of voting right.
The 45-year-old, holding his passport and domicile certificate, pleaded with the security personnel for allowing him inside, but he was driven away with a caution — "Trespassers will be prosecuted".


"My wife's name is there on the electoral roll, but my name has been struck off. The reason has not been explained to me. Even the BLO who helped me file the appeal online for the tribunal does not have any answer. Following his suggestion, I reached Kolkata, leaving my work and managing the expense from my paltry income in the third week of the month. But they did not allow me to meet the authority, and I came back without any solution," he said, adding that the family has been living in Murshidabad for four generations. He rued: "I spent the night at Sealdah station, waiting for my train in afternoon."


Like Shaikh, many deleted voters from different districts thronged the tribunal's office, which is about 18 km away from Howrah station and about 17 km away from Sealdah. Rakesh Ruidas from Nadia also experienced the same ordeal on his visit to the tribunal's office. "I set out from home early in the morning and rented a bike to reach the office on time. As I stood in front of the guardrails put up at the entrance, the guards asked whether I had been summoned by the tribunal authority. As I replied no, they shooed me away. Uncertainty looms large on whether I will be able to vote this time," he said.

According to sources, the tribunal authority is now focusing on the appeals made by the deleted voters of 152 assembly constituencies that will go to polls on April 23. "It is under the direction of the judges that two sets of lists — approved and rejected — are being made. Out of five cases, four are getting cleared and one is kept on hold for grey areas. It is likely that the same model will be followed for disposal of appeals before the poll in other constituencies," sources said.

Around 100 people from the city and districts are coming to enquire about their voting rights daily at the tribunal, according to the men in uniform. Cops, bombarded with queries from the visitors, stated that they were in a hard-pressed situation to tackle the crowd spurned by the security personnel at the entrance. "BLOs and officials of various govt depts are sending the applicants here for enquiry on their appeals, but we have been instructed to restrict people at the entrance.

But there is no clear guideline regarding what to tell these people coming from far-off places. We are trying to calm them down and sending them back home. It has become difficult to deal with deleted voters, many of whom are losing cool," said a cop.Get real-time updates and result insights on the CBSE 12 Result 2026.