Brothers in BSF & SSB get postal ballots after deletion
Times of India | 21 April 2026
Kolkata: Two brothers, one serving with the BSF and the other with the SSB, from Bhagwangola in Murshidabad received postal ballots days after their names were deleted during the adjudication process of the ongoing SIR, leaving their kin surprised. They had moved the tribunal for inclusion of their names two weeks ago.
While Kamal Sk is now working in the SSB in UP, Saddam Hossain is with the BSF and posted in Tripura. They received the postal ballots after they approached the tribunal for inclusion of their names on the voter roll.
During the SIR process, the names of two other siblings were deleted on grounds of logical discrepancy, said their uncle Tajrul Islam. Their father Abul Kalam, however, made it to the list. All four of his children, three sons and a daughter, were deleted. Tajrul said. "The EC has followed no logic while deleting names. My mother Nabia Bewa, 93, was also deleted."
Islam said his nephews appeared in the hearing and also came home to process their appeals for the tribunal. He wondered how names of those working in the paramilitary force got deleted. He said the two brothers were on poll duty during Bihar assembly polls in Nov and it was ridiculous that their names were deleted now and even during the adjudication process it was not corrected.
An EC official said that in an assembly seat, the voter list is in two parts, one for the general voters and another for those in services. Probably, their names were deleted from the general voter part but existed in service part, which needed to be verified. "There has been no SIR or adjudication for service voters. We will seek a report from the concerned DEO. There can be a technical glitch."
He said, "There is a record of the ‘service voters' with the EC for each assembly seat. It is possible that without verifying the deletion list, postal ballots were sent to the units of these jawans."
Wasim Akram, the BLO, said the names of the two brothers were deleted though they submitted all papers. "Their grandmother in the 2002 SIR list is mentioned as Nabia, but in 2025, her name is mentioned as Nabia Bewa. So, there is a discrepancy and on that ground her name was deleted." "I was informed by one of the jawans that he had got postal ballot, but I don't know how he got it. In my booth there were 838 voters and 407 were placed under logical discrepancy category. It is difficult to explain why they got deleted," Akram said. The brothers could not be contacted.