KOLKATA: The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in West Bengal has led to a staggering number of deletions, leaving many residents, including truck driver Sanjay Mahato, bewildered and disenfranchised. Mahato, who discovered his name missing from the electoral lists, expressed his frustration, stating, “I’ve voted in every election, and now I’m told I’ve permanently shifted. How is that possible?”

His case is not isolated. Mahato’s polling booth, Sambhu Vidyalaya, has faced hyperbolic deletions, with approximately 732 voters struck off the draft electoral roll, a number ten times higher than the average for polling booths across the state. The adjustments resulted in a drop from 1,023 registered voters to fewer than 300, stirring anxiety in the local community, particularly among those who are economically vulnerable.

The SIR process, aimed at overhauling electoral rolls across 12 states and Union Territories in India, has come under fire from political leaders and civil society groups for its execution. Critics argue that the substantial deletions—totaling approximately 58 lakh voters in West Bengal alone—have caused unwarranted distress and confusion. Out of these deletions, 24.18 lakh were identified as deceased, while others were marked as absent from their registered addresses.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has conducted the SIR procedure with a focus on correcting the electoral lists, confirming that it found a significant quantity of absent, shifted, dead, and duplicate voters in the state. However, this has raised alarms regarding voter participation ahead of crucial elections next year, particularly in West Bengal, which is set to hold Assembly elections alongside Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Assam.

As the SIR hearings unfold across 11 other locations in Kolkata, residents remain concerned about their rights as voters and the transparency of the electoral process. The impact of these deletions is particularly profound in areas around the jute mill where many live in precarious circumstances, further emphasizing the urgent need for effective communication and administrative clarity from regulatory bodies.