Kolkata Ward Loses 50% Voters in Electoral Roll Revisions, Raising Fears for Trinamool Congress Vote Bank

KOLKATA: A minority-dominated municipal ward under the Chowringhee assembly constituency in the heart of Kolkata has lost around 50 percent of voters since the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls launched in West Bengal last November, posing a serious threat to the ruling Trinamool Congress vote bank ahead of the assembly elections in the state. The number of voters in ward No. 44 under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has come down to around 12,500 from the pre-SIR figure of more than 25,000. Significantly, the ward had given a huge lead of around 7,500 votes for the Trinamool Congress during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Local Trinamool Congress councilor Rehana Khatoon said on Tuesday, “Names of about 50 per cent voters in my ward have been removed from the electoral rolls during, before and after the SIR exercise. Four members, including my son, two daughters and daughter-in-law have lost their eligibility as voters following the supplementary electoral rolls cleared by the judicial officers concerned.” “How can it be possible? We have submitted all requisite documents, including passports to the Election Commission of India (ECI). They have appeared before the SIR hearing two times earlier. They have been rejected as voters as per the supplementary list. It’s a conspiracy of the commission at the behest of the BJP in Delhi to target some specific areas,” Khatoon said. “Same thing has happened to many other poor families in my area, which traditionally votes for the Trinamool Congress. I have spoken to the affected people, who stay in slums of around 24 bighas of land at Giribabu Lane, and am planning to appeal before the appellate tribunals to retain democratic rights of all voters,” she said. The names of 135 adjudicated voters residing at 28/1 Giribabu Lane under ward No.44 have been struck off. All of them are Muslims. A Trinamool Congress insider feared that the huge deletions of such a large number of dead, duplicate and adjudicated voters in Chowringhee constituency under Kolkata North Lok Sabha seat, which is a traditional bastion for the party, might have a negative impact in the upcoming assembly elections. Chowringhee has already recorded more than more than 70,000 absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD) electors as per the first draft of the electoral rolls.