Matua Community in West Bengal Faces Uncertainty Over Electoral Rolls

12Kolkata: Over a lakh of voters from the Matua heartland, spread over four assembly constituencies in North 24 Parganas' Bongaon subdivision, are likely to receive notices for hearing following the publication of draft electoral rolls on Tuesday.These people — most of whom came to India from Bangladesh — have been found lacking in progeny mapping. While many of them had their names in the 2025 voter list, and some even in the 2002 list, the names of their parents or grandparents were not found in the rolls.The number, according to the draft list, is over 1.3 lakh. According to district-level election officials, 15% to 20% of these have a glimmer of hope since they had received citizenship certificates.IPL Auction 2026IPL Auction 2026: Full list of sold and unsold players for all teamsIPL 2026 team and squad List: Updated players for all 10 Teams; who got whomRetired central govt employee Pramatha Nath Biswas, a resident of Bagda's Helencha, is one of the lucky ones. Biswas had come to India from Bangladesh's Gopalganj in 2009 and after applying for citizenship under the CAA, got his certificate in Nov. While Biswas was relieved, some of his neighbours were worried even after receiving SMS alerts from the Union ministry of home affairs stating that their citizenship certificates had been issued."Will our certificates reach us in time," asked one of them. Thousands have been visiting citizenship camps run by BJP-aligned All India Matua Mahasangha, to get updates about their certificates.The majority, however, is made up by those who haven't applied under CAA. "Election Commissionhas listed 11 documents, but we do not have even one of them. What will we submit during hearing?," said a worried Subodh Biswas — a resident of Thakurnagar."We have been voting for 15 years. We have EPICs and Aadhaar cards and voted in the last Lok Sabha election as well. If my family members are summoned for hearing, we will not be able to produce any document. I don't know what to do..." said Swapan Gosai, a Matua community leader."None of the documents sought by EC are available with most Matua families. If they fail to produce documents during hearings, their names will be struck off.Until notices are issued, people do not even know whose names have been marked as ‘doubtful' or ‘unmapped'. The entire community is living in fear," said Sukesh Chowdhury, secretary of the TMC-led faction of All India Matua Mahasangha.Rejecting the charge, Sukhen Gayen, general secretary of the BJP-aligned faction of the organization, said the ‘doubtful voter' category wasn't there to target Matuas. "The PM and the Union home minister will take appropriate steps," he said.The subdivision also has 4,82,207 "progeny voters" — individuals who enrolled citing their parents or relatives as references. In line with state-wide trends, EC has marked nearly half of these voters as "suspect".Since the beginning of SIR in Bengal, TMC has been claiming that Matuas would be the worst-hit. Sources estimate that around 45% of voters in the subdivision belong to the Matua community.Get an chance to win ₹5000 Amazon Voucher by taking part in India's Biggest Habit Index! Take the survey here