Bengal SIR: Cricketer Richa Ghosh, 2 ministers among those marked ‘under adjudication’: TMC

Kolkata, Mar 1 (PTI) The TMC on Sunday accused the EC of carrying out what it described as "silent invisible rigging" during the SIR in West Bengal, alleging that many prominent names, such as cricketer Richa Ghosh, ministers Shashi Panja and Md Ghulam Rabbani and chief secretary Nandini Chakraborty have been placed in the 'under adjudication' category in the final voter list.

In posts on X, the party claimed that Ghosh, a member of India's 2025 ICC Women's World Cup-winning squad, was marked 'under adjudication category in the list published on Saturday.

"The farce of @BJP4India and @ECISVEEP's silent invisible rigging reaches new lows of absurdity. A World Cup-winning star like Richa Ghosh, Bengal's pride, India's hero', has now been placed 'under adjudication' in the final electoral rolls," the TMC said.

The party said the 22-year-old wicketkeeper-batter from Siliguri, who represented India on the global stage, was now facing what it termed "humiliating scrutiny".

"She is forced to endure this humiliating scrutiny, her name flagged, her voter status questioned, her democratic right dangling by a thread in this voter purge," the statement said.

Drawing parallels between prominent figures and ordinary citizens affected by the revision exercise, the party asked: "When even celebrities and national icons can be arbitrarily targeted, questioned, and subjected to this degrading process, what hope for the common Bengali voter?" The TMC alleged that five MLAs -- ministers Shashi Panja and Md Ghulam Rabbani, and legislators Rafiqur Rahaman, Toraf Hossain Mandal and Swati Khandoker have also been placed under the same category.

It further claimed that Birbhum zilla parishad sabhadhipati Kajal Sheikh and his mother were similarly flagged, while Naihati Municipality councillor Sushanta Sarkar and his mother were "deleted outright" from the rolls.

Panja told PTI, "While my husband and daughter find their names in the list, my name has been stamped in the 'under adjudication' category. After being a cabinet minister and an MLA for years, this action of EC seems baffling and insulting, not to me, but the people of Bengal and residents of my constituency." Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty's name has also been marked in the 'Under Adjudication' category in the list, the TMC said.

According to the party, several functionaries and BDOs and BLOs have faced issues ranging from deletion to adjudication following the SIR process.

"This is systematic humiliation engineered to disenfranchise, to silence and to erase Bengal's voice one," the party said.

The Election Commission has not yet responded to the allegations. PTI SUS RG ACD MNB