Crawling, limping, travelling miles: Vulnerable voters bear brunt of Bengal SIR

Kolkata, Jan 5 (PTI) As the second phase of the SIR gathers pace in West Bengal, block offices are turning into sites of anxiety, with elderly, disabled and vulnerable voters enduring physical distress, long journeys and loss of livelihood to prove they are “legitimate” electors, sharpening political fault lines ahead of the assembly polls.

Across rural and urban Bengal, scenes at hearing centres have transformed what was intended as a technical exercise into a deeply emotive public issue.

Octogenarians arriving on stretchers or leaning on relatives, persons with disabilities crawling across office floors, and daily wage earners forfeiting income out of fear that their names may be struck off the electoral rolls have exposed a widening gap between administrative intent and ground reality.

From an 87-year-old woman ferried 32 km for a hearing, to a man with 80 per cent disability forced to crawl inside a block office, to an eight-month pregnant woman summoned despite exemptions, the hearings have thrown up images that critics say belie claims of a routine clean-up of voter lists.

On December 16, the Election Commission published the draft electoral rolls after the first phase of the SIR, with the electorate dropping from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore following the deletion of over 58 lakh names.

The second phase, which began on December 27, involves hearings of 1.67 crore electors under scrutiny, including 1.36 crore flagged for logical discrepancies and 31 lakh whose records lack mapping.

In Debra block of Paschim Medinipur, 87-year-old Sneholata Bhakta arrived for her hearing after a 32-km journey by car. Seeing her frail condition, the block development officer stepped out, verified her documents inside the vehicle and allowed her to leave.

“Why should I spend money and suffer so much just to prove I am a voter?” she asked.

Nearby, 65-year-old Jharna Das, seriously ill and unable to walk, was carried into the hearing centre in her brother’s arms.

“If we didn’t come, her name might be deleted,” he said. “That fear leaves no choice.” Fear, rather than confusion over paperwork, has emerged as the dominant driver behind attendance.

Notices warning of deletion, coupled with unclear timelines for home verification, have pushed even those physically incapable of travel to turn up in person.

Dipankar Das, blind since birth, was summoned despite his name featuring in the 2002 electoral rolls. “I cannot see. I walk very carefully,” he said after navigating the BDO office with help. “Still, I had to come.” The absence of names from the 2002 rolls has emerged as a recurring trigger for summons, disproportionately affecting migrant workers, urban renters, women who shifted residence after marriage and elderly voters who were outside their home districts at the time.

From Garfa in south Kolkata, a retired central government employee travelled nearly 150 km to Dantan after finding his name missing from the 2002 list.

“The officials behaved well,” the 78-year-old said. “But such a journey is extremely difficult at this age.” For daily wage earners, the cost has been immediate.

Shyamal Kotal, a mason from Narayangarh, skipped work to attend his hearing. “My family survives on my daily wages,” he said. “But if my name is deleted, that would be worse.” In Purulia’s Balarampur, Shyam Singh Sardar, 80 per cent disabled since birth, crawled across the block office floor after being summoned. There was no wheelchair. “At least home hearings should be arranged for people like us,” he said. “This is unbearable harassment.” In Hooghly’s Tarakeswar, a 72-year-old man collapsed while stepping out of a toto to attend his hearing and suffered a head injury. The same centre also summoned an eight-month pregnant woman despite guidelines exempting such categories.

In Jalpaiguri’s Dhupguri, an octogenarian couple, both unwell, reached a hearing centre clutching voter cards and notices. “They said our names would be cut if we didn’t come,” the husband said.

While the EC’s guidelines provide for home hearings and exemptions, repeated instances of vulnerable voters being summoned have highlighted gaps in implementation, with families often receiving verbal assurances but written notices demanding physical presence.

The ruling TMC has seized on these episodes, alleging that the SIR risks disenfranchising genuine voters ahead of 2026.

The BJP, however, insists the revision is necessary to ensure transparency and integrity in the electoral rolls and should not be politicised.

At its core, the SIR is a technical exercise. On the ground, it has become deeply personal-measured in kilometres travelled by the infirm, wages lost by labourers and fear etched on faces lining up outside block offices.

For an exercise meant to correct records, the SIR has unsettled something less easily repaired: voter confidence.

As the process continues amid concern, the administration now faces the challenge of keeping electoral rolls accurate without shaking public trust in voting. PTI PNT MNB BDC