Confusion over documents takes its toll on unmapped electors
Times of India | 30 December 2025
Kolkata: Shivering in the chilly winds outside and in the damp corridors of Jessop Building and other hearing centres, citizens stood in slow-moving lines for hours — clutching files, refreshing phones, and rehearsing answers — only to be told they must return with yet another document they didn't know they needed.
Chandrakala Jaiswal, 75, from Amherst Street, finally reached the hearing room on Monday after a two-hour wait. The relief lasted minutes. She was told to return as she did not have documents from her parental home. Her daughter, Anita Jaiswal, said both their names had been deleted while the names of her elder brothers remained in the draft roll. "We brought all the documents, but we were unaware that we needed to bring this particular document," she said, deciding to return only after speaking to the BLO and arranging the papers.
In the open area of the Jessop Building, Naresh Sharma stood scrolling furiously on his smartphone, trying to retrieve a missing page that had suddenly become the key to his wife's hearing. "My wife entered the hearing room, where she was asked to show the front page of the 2002 SIR roll. I brought the list from Rajasthan, but the front page was missing," he said. From noon to 4 pm, he kept trying to download it.
For Anuradha Lakhotia of Jorasanko, the demand was similar, but the trail ran across state borders. Her parental link is in UP, and though the family's names exist there, she was asked to produce the front page of the earlier SIR roll showing her parents' and grandparents' names. Her son, Nikunj, said the family had not been told this would be required. "I have the previous SIR roll, and my grandparents' names are there, but where do I get the front page? We should have been informed when we were served notice."
For some, the problem was not a missing page but missing lives and lost records. Purnima Ghosh of Bowbazar said she was asked to show her parents' documents, but her parents are not mentally stable. "Our house in the village was gutted some years ago, so most documents were destroyed," she said.
At the Aliah University hearing centre, Alia Islam sat sorting thick bundles of papers — voter ID, Aadhaar, school leaving certificate, Class X admit card, graduation certificate, bank passbook details of her parents, her grandmother's voter ID, land records from Bihar, electricity bills — trying to anticipate what might be demanded across the table. "My mother and father are voters of Bihar. I have been staying here for 13 years and am a voter from Alimuddin Street. My name was not there in the 2002 roll," she said. The notice pushed her into panic and paperwork. "It is a maddening task to gather so many documents as we do not know what exactly will be required."
Even those who believed they were safe were pulled into the same uncertainty. Senior citizen Michelle Baker was called despite her name featuring on 2002 list. She left her ill husband at home on Imdad Ali Lane and came with her daughter, who also had to leave her kids behind.