'EC not sharing reason for SIR deletion': 1971 war hero fights to restore wife’s voting rights
Telegraph | 13 April 2026
A soldier who lost a limb fighting Pakistan in 1971 is fighting again, this time to restore his wife’s voting rights.
Durri Bhalla, the author of multiple cookbooks who happens to be Muslim, is married to Captain Anil Bhalla, a decorated war hero with roots in Jammu.
Anil was part of the 2/11 Gorkha Rifles, an elite infantry regiment. His unit played a pivotal role in capturing Point 13620 in Kargil, a strategically crucial summit overlooking the Srinagar-Leh highway.
But Captain Bhalla stepped on a mine and lost his left leg. He now has an artificial limb.
The septuagenarian couple, who have lived in Calcutta for over 40 years, were voters in Ballygunge.
“I cannot say for sure if that (religion) is the reason for my exclusion. But this SIR exercise has excluded so many Muslims that it seems a probable reason," Durri said.
"My strongest desire now is to know on what grounds her name was deleted," Anil told this newspaper at his ground-floor flat in a housing complex in Ballygunge Circular Road.
Anil said: “My name was approved, as were the names of my son and daughter. My biggest problem is that the Election Commission is not sharing the reason (for Durri’s exclusion). That is most surprising and annoying.”
Durri’s appeal against the deletion was filed on Friday. She called her exclusion “ridiculous”.
“Even if my voting right is restored, it’s unlikely that I can vote on April 29. Who will compensate for that?” she said.
Durri had been mapped to her father, with an identifiable Muslim name, on the enumeration form because she was not on the 2002 Bengal electoral rolls.
The couple had started voting late because they were unsure whether they would settle down here for good. Anil had come to Calcutta to look after the city-based unit of his father’s pan-India logistics business.
The couple’s love marriage took place in what was then Bombay 53 years ago.
The Bhallas had attended Durri’s hearing at a nearby school. “I gave all the documents, including my pension payment order and other army documents that mention her as my wife. These documents are issued by the Government of India,” Anil said.
Durri said: “In the run-up to the SIR, some leaders kept saying the exercise would weed out infiltrators. Do I look like one?”
Anil drives a car and, not so long ago, rode bikes even with a prosthetic left leg. It’s tough to tell he has one.
After the war he had gone to Bombay where, thanks to his rugged good looks, he landed a modelling assignment in a national ad campaign. Soon, he was in demand and went on to act in a Hindi film.
Awards and insignia adorn their sprawling apartment. Bhalla’s most prized possession is a kukri. The base of its sheath reads: “Presented to Capt Anil Bhalla By Commanding Officer and officers of 2/11 Gorkha Rifles For Gallantry During Indo-Pak War 1971.”
The blade still has stains of enemy blood, Anil said.
“We feel so sorry for people who have lost their votes. Where was the necessity for this tearing hurry to conduct the revision within months?” Durri said.