Voter list deletions spark protests in Bengal, hundreds allege exclusion after SIR hearings
Telegraph | 26 March 2026
Serious concerns about electoral transparency have emerged in parts of Bengal following large-scale deletions of names from voter lists, triggering protests in North 24-Parganas and Malda districts.
At Gobra village in the Basirhat North Assembly constituency, the residents staged a road blockade on Wednesday when they found that 340 names were missing from the first supplementary electoral roll published on Monday night.
According to the residents of Gobra in North 24-Parganas, out of 992 voters, 38 names had been removed earlier because of death or relocation. Out of the remaining 954, 358 voters were issued notices and asked to appear for hearings.
They appeared for the hearings, but on the preliminary “final” list that was published on February 28, all 358 were kept under adjudication.
When the first supplementary list was published on Monday night, only 18 names were included, leaving the remaining 340 voters unaccounted for.
Among those whose names are missing from the list are Mohammad Safiqul Alam, who served as a booth-level officer (BLO).
On Wednesday, the aggrieved residents approached officials of the Basirhat 2 block development officer's office. However, both the BDO and the electoral registration officer (ERO) purportedly declined to intervene, citing jurisdictional limitations.
With no immediate remedy, the villagers have decided to move to a tribunal and staged protests accusing the Election Commission of harassing them in the name of the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
“We submitted multiple documents. Yet, our names are not on the supplementary list. There is no clarity as to whether the documents were reviewed and considered,” said Kazirul Islam, an affected voter of the village.
Around 10.30am, they blocked the Gobra-Basirhat Road in protest. The blockade continued for around two hours and was lifted after administrative and police officials reached and assured them of looking into the issue.
A similar controversy has surfaced in the Silampur 1 panchayat of the Sujapur Assembly constituency in Malda district.
Local people said 522 voters of a booth were marked “under adjudication” during the SIR process. Despite attending hearings and submitting documents, 427 names have been excluded from the first supplementary list.
Sagar Mahaldar and Mer Ali Mahaldar, who are voters of the same booth, said that their families had been living in the village for generations. Mer Ali, who is in his fifties, has been a regular voter since before 2002. His name even appeared on the 2002 SIR list.
“I am stunned by the exclusion of my name from the current list. Many others have faced the same fate,” Mer Ali said.
Local Trinamool Congress leader Rajesh Mahaldar termed the exclusion of the names as an “infringement on democratic rights.”
“We want a comprehensive probe. Our party is also gathering details of such affected voters. The Election Commission cannot deny voting rights to any genuine voter,” he said.