Questions and stones fly in Malda protests, police vehicle driver injured during agitation
Telegraph | 3 April 2026
Protests by people with names missing from the electoral rolls continued across various parts of Malda district on Thursday, with one instance of violence in Englishbazar where the driver of a police vehicle was injured in stone-pelting.
Additional central forces were deployed in Malda to ensure tight vigil amid widespread turbulence in the district after the special intensive revision of the poll roll that left thousands of names deleted. Many school buildings in Kaliachak-I and II blocks were requisitioned by block administrations to accommodate the forces.
The first protest of the day began in the Narayanpur area of Malda, where nearly 1,000 residents from the Old Malda police station area blocked NH12 while carrying the Indian national flags.
The blockade, which started around 10am, continued for four hours before being lifted following the intervention of Anik Roy, the BDO of Old Malda, and additional district magistrate Sheikh Ansar Ahmed, who appealed to the protesters to clear the highway.
“Are we foreign nationals? Are we infiltrators? Why were our names deleted from the electoral rolls when we have all the valid documents?” asked Bapi Sheikh, a 40-year-old hawker protesting on the highway. He claimed that nearly 600 people from three booths had been removed from the voter list.
Police and central forces were deployed at the protest site, but they refrained from using force. The protesters eventually dispersed after receiving assurances from the administration that their grievances would be addressed, but warned of renewed agitation if no concrete action to reinstate their names was taken.
In the Jadupur area of Englishbazar block, a group of local women attempted to block NH12.
The police personnel passing through the area asked them not to proceed, leading to an altercation. The women said their names had been removed from the electoral rolls, although they submitted all the documents.
The situation escalated when protesters suddenly started pelting stones. Some flying stones hit a police vehicle and its driver, who suffered a head injury.
The driver was taken to Malda Medical College and Hospital for treatment. Protesters, however, dispersed after this incident.
In Kalikapur, under the Sujapur Assembly constituency in Kaliachak-I block, some residents staged a demonstration, stating that the supplementary lists did not have their names.
Protesters burned tyres and raised slogans against the Election Commission and the BJP, alleging their names had been deliberately removed from the rolls as voters. They claimed that over 500 voters from two booths had been excluded.
The protest lasted from noon to 2.30pm, but did not snowball into violence under police supervision.