For some, right to vote is 2026’s New Year resolution
Times of India | 2 January 2026
Kolkata: The right to vote in 2026 is a New Year's resolution for some people who thronged the SIR hearing to prove their citizenship in the city, cancelling their other plans on Jan 1. Some booth level officers (BLOs) also had to cancel their family plans for New Year celebrations on Thursday as they spent 4 or 5 hours at the hearing venue.
Partho Pal lives at Ganguly Bagan, but his voter card's address is of his other house in the Taltala area in the Chowringhee assembly constituency. He submitted his enumeration form online but got a hearing notice from the Election Commission. Putting off his other New Year's Day plans and armed with his documents, he turned up at Rani Rashmoni High School on SN Banerjee Road for the hearing that would ensure his voting right in the Assembly election this year.
"I opted for the online process to submit my enumeration form. Despite putting all details, I was called in for hearing. I showed my documents to the election officers at the hearing booth. I had to keep myself free throughout the day to be present for the hearing, upon which my voting right banks," said Pal.
About 300 electors appeared for a hearing at this school on Thursday. A BLO said, "Today being a holiday, more people came for the hearing. We also could not make any plan to celebrate the onset of the New Year with our families. Rather, we spent the whole day on hearing work."
Taltala resident Sana Parveen was called in for mapping errors as there was an error in her father's name in the 2002 SIR list. "I had to bring my documents and my father's to prove that the person to whom I was mapped as progeny was not a different person. I had to cancel my plan for the day out with friends for the sake of this hearing," she said.
Another elector, Rupali Biswas, attended the hearing for her two sons, whose names were also spelt wrong. "It's the first day of the New Year, so both of my sons are out of to celebrate the day. I had to give an authorisation letter to be allowed to attend the hearing on their behalf," she said.
From being present at the hearing venue, sitting in the booth, to visiting electors' homes, the BLOs also remained occupied with SIR work on Jan 1. Arup Mandal, a BLO in Tollygunge, said, "My first day of the New Year was spent in delivering notices that I received last evening." Joyita Biswas, another BLO from Manicktala, said, "I did not make any plan for this day as I went to the booth to help out people in the SIR task."