Suri Municipality to open legal aid centre for SIR
The Statesman | 30 October 2025The Election Commission of India (ECI) has already announced that the SIR will begin in fifteen states across the country, including West Bengal. The voters’ list has been frozen until the release of the next draft list in December this year, according to an ECI press conference held in New Delhi yesterday.
Today, the chairman of Suri Municipality said that many people are anxious about how to include their names or make necessary corrections. Some have even approached the civic body to find out how to locate their names in the 2002 voters’ list.
“Most of the people belong to the minority community and are now living in fear. So, we have decided to assist them and help resolve these issues. The legal aid centre will open on 4 November, the date when SIR work starts in our state. We want every eligible voter to be able to cast their vote,” said Ujjwal Chatterjee.
Kajal Sheikh, sabhadhipati of Birbhum zilla parishad, said that if even a single voter’s name is deleted, the repercussions will be severe, and his party will not allow the removal of legitimate voters’ names under the pretext of SIR. He said that his own name was included in the 2002 voters’ list and that he is an Indian citizen. However, he warned that the BJP leadership would face consequences and be wiped out from Birbhum district if such deletions occur.
Countering the allegations, former BJP MP from Barrackpore, Arjun Singh, claimed that Kajal Sheikh himself is a Bangladeshi citizen and that once the list is made public, people will discover that his name was not in the 2002 voters’ list. “He will then be pushed back to Bangladesh,” Singh alleged.
According to the 2011 Census data, around 37.06 per cent of Birbhum district’s total population belongs to the minority community, and the figure has increased further over the past fourteen years. The minority community plays a crucial role in determining the outcome of both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Birbhum district.
In 2021, the BJP managed to win only the Dubrajpur Assembly seat but hopes to increase its tally in the 2026 Assembly polls.
