Disenfranchised voters fear loss of welfare benefits as BJP links scheme access to electoral rolls
Telegraph | 12 May 2026
The BJP government’s announcement that voters whose names have been deleted from the electoral rolls and whose appeals are pending before appellate tribunals will not be eligible for a welfare scheme has confirmed the worst fears of the disenfranchised.
Many of them now fear exclusion from state benefits and being pushed to the margins, like “second-class citizens”.
All the deleted voters this newspaper spoke to said they were worried about possible questions over their citizenship. One was more specific, saying he apprehended that foreigners’ tribunals might be set up to assess their “Indianness”.
A 27-year-old homemaker from Park Circus, a beneficiary of Lakshmir Bhandar, said she felt helpless about the possibility of losing benefits. Her name has been deleted from the voter list, while her parents and husband remain enrolled.
“What can I do? If the government decides not to give me the grant, I have to accept it,” she said. “My question is, how could they delete my name when my parents are on the list. My husband, too, is there. Am I not an Indian?”
In Metiabruz, another homemaker, also a Lakshmir Bhandar beneficiary, said she and her husband had both been deleted from the electoral rolls. Both have filed appeals before the tribunal. She said she had apprehended such a situation.
“I was fearing that something like this would happen. I will transfer whatever is left in my account to my brother-in-law, who is still a valid voter. Who knows what will happen tomorrow? My account may be frozen,” she said.
New municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul said on Monday that those whose appeals are pending will not be eligible for benefits under the Annapurna Bhandar scheme.
“Every beneficiary of Lakshmir Bhandar will now be a beneficiary of Annapurna Bhandar. They will get the money through direct benefit transfer. The money will be credited to their bank accounts from June 1. But before that, we want to conduct an analysis. The names that have been deleted (in the SIR), they should not get the money. The deceased cannot get the money. Someone who is not an Indian citizen should not get it,” Paul said.
“That analysis will determine the number of Lakshmir Bhandar beneficiaries who have been deleted. They will be removed (from the list of beneficiaries). The chief minister has also said that people who have applied for Indian citizenship through the CAA and whose names are with the (SIR) tribunal will also be kept out of the list of beneficiaries for now,” she added.
Metro had earlier reported a case where a woman was allegedly denied a loan by a non-banking financial company after her name was removed from the electoral rolls.
Over 27 lakh voters were struck off the rolls following adjudication and were unable to vote in the Bengal Assembly elections.
In addition, around 7 lakh appeals against fresh inclusions are still pending before the tribunal.
Many deleted voters said they were uncertain about their status, the timeline for hearings, whether appellate tribunals were functioning and how long it may take for the pending appeals to be decided. Civic elections are scheduled for December, and many are anxious, questioning whether they would be allowed to vote then.
“There is absolutely no clarity on when our appeals will be heard. I checked the ECI Net mobile application on Monday. It is still showing that my appeal is pending,” said Hasir Mallick, who had been voting in Uttarpara since 2002 but could not vote in 2026.
“I do not know if we will be dragged to a foreigner’s tribunal based on the voters’ list and asked to prove that we are Indians. That is what happened in Assam,” he said.
At a hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday, Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee said that in many constituencies, the victory margin of BJP candidates was lower than the number of deleted voters. He further said that in many seats, the victory margin and the number of deleted voters were nearly identical.
Gaurav Ghosh, a Supreme Court lawyer and voter in Rashbehari whose name has also been deleted, said he feared the same voter list could be used for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections in December.
“There is no information on whether appeals are being heard, and if so, at what pace. I apprehend that it will take years to decide all pending cases,” Ghosh said.