From veterans to bureaucrats: Voter roll deletions in West Bengal raise serious concerns over disenfranchisement

88-year old Suprabuddha Sen says he doesn't care anymore about being disenfranchised. He claims that those who deleted his name from the voter list should be able to answer why he is not in the list. The West Bengal SIR exercise has resulted in the deletion of around 25 lakh voters from the electoral roll, specifically belonging to the underprivileged sections of society. However, in some cases, the exercise has resulted in the exclusion of people who belonged to the upper strata of society.

Suprabuddha Sen is a resident of Shantiniketan and worked as an engineer in Damodar Valley Corporation for 32 years. He is the maternal grandson of the Artist Nandalal Bose. Nandalal Bose was a pioneer in modern Indian art and a key figure of Contextual Modernism. He illustrated the original manuscript of the Constitution of India and was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1954.

“I submitted all documents, including my matriculation certificate, passport, employment records, pension payment order, but still they kept the name under adjudication and later deleted it. Similarly, my wife also submitted all the pertinent documents that they asked for, but still her name has been removed from the voter list,” said Suprabudhha Sen.

Wing Commander Md Shamim Akhtar, a decorated IAF officer, served the nation for 17 years. He once held a diplomatic passport; his name was placed “under adjudication” and then later deleted. He said that his name was there in the final list, but in the first supplementary list on March 23, it was marked ‘under adjudication’. "I contacted my BLO, Mondal, but he did not tell me any procedure to follow and assured me that it would be restored automatically. Then on March 28, when my name was deleted in the second list, the BLO told me to hire a lawyer and approach the tribunal,” said Md Shamim Akhtar.

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Kargil war veteran, Mohammad Dual Ali, who sustained combat injuries, was brought “under adjudication” despite providing substantial documents. His name, along with the names of three other members of his family, was removed. "..three other members of my family, two daughters and one son, have also been included in the adjudication list, despite one being a judicial officer,” said Dua Ali to the Wire.

The state’s Chief Secretary, Nandini Chakraborty, was also placed in the “under adjudication” category. Notably, hours after announcing the assembly election schedule, the Election Commission of India removed West Bengal Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty from her position. Other notable mentions include Richa Gosh, a member of India's 2025 ICC Women's World Cup-winning squad and a celebrated cricketer from Siliguri, who was placed “under adjudication”. She was with India's Women's team in Australia when her name was placed “under adjudication”.

Shashi Panja, a cabinet minister and long-serving MLA, Ghulam Rabbani West Bengal's Minister for Environment and Non-Conventional Energy Sources, Mohammad Selim a two-time Panchayat Pradhan, two-time MLA from Baduria, and former high school teacher, and Baikuntha Bagchi An 86-year-old man reported to be the uncle of Justice Joymalya Bagchi, the Supreme Court judge who is presiding over the SIR cases, were either placed “under adjudication” or deleted.

Only in the Metro city of South Calcutta, 36 per cent of under adjudication voter accounting for approximately at least 28,468 have been deleted, for North Calcutta, it is 64 per cent, approximately 39,164. The whole West Bengal SIR exercise has turned into a monumental failure either due to the mismanagement by the institutions of the Government of India, or due to a structural flaw in the Indian constitution, which vests extraordinary power in its executive branches, thus failing to secure impartiality of the institution.