Slamming the West Bengal government's drive to delete ration cards based on SIR-linked verification, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday asked why access to ration cards should depend on whether a beneficiary's name is on the voter list or not.
What is the point of Aadhaar authentication if the voter roll is being used as the deciding factor for providing PDS ration, he asked.
The Hyderabad MP said many people who were excluded during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll are genuine voters.
"Government schemes are not rewards for voters. They are meant for all eligible citizens. This move looks less like verification and more like an attempt to cut beneficiary numbers while making life harder for the poorest people, especially women, SCs and Muslims," Owaisi said in a post on X.
"The government is acting as if these schemes are Prince Suvendu’s personal charity. They are not," he said.
The schemes are funded by public money and are the right of every eligible citizen, the AIMIM leader added.
West Bengal's Food and Supplies Department on June 4 ordered a state-wide verification exercise to identify and delete "ineligible beneficiaries" from the PDS, linking the process to the outcome of the SIR of electoral rolls.
According to an official order, the exercise will cover ration card holders whose names were deleted or found ineligible during the electoral roll revision process and is scheduled to be completed by June 15.
Officials said the categories under scrutiny include persons marked as absentee, shifted, dead or duplicate (ASDD) electors, individuals whose applications were rejected during the SIR process, those deleted after adjudication, and electors identified as ASDD during the distribution of Voter Information Slips ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
However, the department clarified that beneficiaries who have filed appeals before the SIR Tribunal or have submitted applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would continue to remain active in the ration card database until the disposal of their appeals or applications.
