Benefits to deleted voters 'won't stop', Gautam Deb vows to protect those felled by SIR
Telegraph | 1 May 2026
The Trinamool Congress-led civic board of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) promised to protect the rights and extend civic benefits to all “genuine voters”, including those whose names were deleted during the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
Mayor Gautam Deb, speaking at the monthly board meeting on Thursday, said efforts would be made to reinstate the deleted names through appropriate legal channels, with assistance from Trinamool’s legal team.
“We will continue to provide all services and ensure the rights of every genuine voter in the civic areas. This will not change at the whims of any political party,” Deb said.
The mayor was responding to a ‘calling attention’ motion raised by CPM councillor Saradindu Chakraborty, who urged the civic board to ensure that residents whose names were struck off the rolls continue to receive civic services and benefits.
“I appeal to the House that the civic body must take all necessary measures to safeguard the rights of electors whose names have been deleted from the voter list,” Chakraborty said.
Deb and Chakraborty are nominees of Trinamool and CPM, respectively, from the Siliguri Assembly seat. Opposition councillors from the BJP, including the leader of the Opposition Amit Jain, objected to the discussion.
Jain argued that matters such as the SIR, being of national significance, should not be raised in a municipal board meeting.
“If such issues are allowed to be discussed here, we too would mention other national issues in future board meetings,” Jain said.
The objection, however, was overruled by the civic board chairman.
Deb also shared figures related to the revision process. In all, 86,566 names were deleted from the electoral roll in the SMC area, he said.
Of these, 42,982 are from the 33 wards under the Siliguri Assembly constituency, while 34,584 are residents of 14 wards under the SMC which fall within the Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly constituency of neighbouring Jalpaiguri.
The mayor said chief minister Mamata Banerjee, along with legal experts, raised key concerns regarding voter exclusion.
He noted that the Supreme Court issued directives following the SIR hearings. Despite continuous efforts by the chief minister and Trinamool to include names of all eligible voters, several hurdles were created by the Election Commission, including frequent transfers of district and subdivisional officials, he alleged. Eventually, the apex court appointed judicial officers to look into the issue.
“However, as a member of the legal fraternity, I feel these officials failed to apply their minds adequately, and only a limited number of names were cleared by the (appellate) tribunals,” Deb added.
Tourism initiative
The Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) is planning to develop its own mechanisms to assist tourists who pass through the city en route to various destinations in north Bengal and the Northeast.
Mayor Gautam Deb said the initiative aimed to streamline support services for transit tourists. Drawing on his experience as a former state minister of the tourism department, Deb noted that the plan would be implemented in consultation with councillors and tourism industry stakeholders.
“The state government is developing the world’s largest Mahakal temple and a state-of-the-art international convention centre here. In addition, many tourists regularly visit Siliguri as a transit hub on their way to different destinations. Keeping this in mind, we have decided to create a dedicated system to assist tourists,” Deb said, adding that the modalities and operational framework of the proposed system would be finalised soon after discussions with elected representatives and tourism stakeholders.