The residents of Samserganj in Murshidabad district of West Bengal are used to seeing their homes, farmlands and marketplaces getting washed away into the hungry Ganges. This summer, the blow has been of a novel nature: the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. In a single stroke, 74,000 voters have been wiped off the rolls—that’s roughly 30 per cent of the constituency’s pre-revision electorate. About 95 per cent of the 74,000 are Muslims. Samserganj’s case may sound like an extreme example, but it’s not. Of the 27.16 lakh names deleted for logical discrepancies from the rolls across West Bengal, 4.55 lakh, or one-sixth, are from Murshidabad alone. Muslims make up 67 per cent of the district’s population; however, 92.5 per cent of the 4.55 lakh names of voters deleted are Muslims.
‘Silent Purge’ Under SIR: Voter Roll Cuts Across Samserganj, Malda, Muslims Hit Hardest
Murshidabad accounts for one-sixth of deletions in West Bengal; in Samserganj alone, 30% voters dropped, while thousands in Malda move tribunals for reinstatement
Mehbub Alam (in black) and Afajul Hoque were told their names were excluded because their fathers had six children. Both are from Milangarh in Malda and work as daily wagers in Kerala. | Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee
Afajul Hoque returned to his village four months ago and has been running from pillar to post to get his name included. In the process, he lost his job. | Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee
Nagma Khatoon, who lives in Basudebpur in Murshidabad, says 16 members from her family did not make it to the list. She works as a beedi worker and it’s a hassle for her to spend money to get photocopies of documents and visit the tribunal again and again. | Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee
Similarly, in Malda district, which shares its border with Bangladesh, thousands of voters, mostly Muslims, are rushing to the tribunals to get their names included.
All Excluded: Pinky Khatoon Bibi travelled all the way from her village to the Malda Tribunal with her baby. She was seen sitting on the ground and struggling to fill scores of forms in a last-ditch effort | Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee
The rush at the Malda Tribunal. | Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee
Dejected, Disappointed: Md Abdul Malik (holding his passport), a primary school teacher, who lives in Samserganj in Murshidabad, is standing with other school teachers whose names did not make it to the list. Ironically, Malik worked as a Booth Level Officer (BLO) in the run-up to the elections. | Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee
Mohidur rushed from Kerala, where he works as a daily wager, to his village in Daulatpur in Malda after nine out of 11 members of his family went missing from the voter list. He says thousands of people are rushing back home to get their names included. The trains are all packed. They fear if they don’t get the issue fixed, they will be thrown out of the country. | Photo: Sandipan Chatterjee
Sandipan Chatterjee Is Senior Photographer, OUTLOOK
This article appeared in Outlook’s May 1 issue, 'Dravida Banga Ltd' which looked at the states going into elections and the issues facing them including delimitation and special intensive revision.
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