With the final voters’ list of West Bengal seeing over 63 lakh deletions or 9% of the total electorate and over 60 lakh voters (8.5%) being placed “under adjudication” following the Election Commission (EC)’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the issue has snowballed into a major political row in the state ahead of the Assembly polls slated for April.
While there have been a large number of deletions in the Assembly seats with significant Matua populations, the Muslim-dominated constituencies have reported a high number of cases under adjudication pending a review of their voter status by judicial officers.
The second and final phase of the SIR exercise in Bengal, after which the final electoral rolls were published by the EC on February 28, mirrored a pattern of high deletions in Matua areas seen after the SIR’s first phase in the drafts rolls.
An analysis by The Indian Express of the final electoral rolls shows that the most deletions came in the Dabgram-Phulbari, Bagda and Kalyani Assembly constituencies. Matuas are a majority in these seats.
A senior EC official said, “In the second phase, most cases of deletions are those who did not appear in hearings. This trend means these electors were not confident enough to produce the proper documents and that is why they skipped the hearings.”
Before the SIR, Bengal had a total of 7.66 crore voters. With the final electoral rolls deleting 63.67 lakh voters and placing under adjudication another 60.07 lakh voters, and after 1.88 lakh names were added in the second phase, Bengal’s electorate now stands at 7.04 lakh voters.
Matua deletions
Matuas used to work as peasants in East Bangladesh and started migrating to West Bengal after 1950. After 20-odd years of migration, they form the state’s second largest Scheduled Caste (SC) community.
Matuas are concentrated in areas around Thakurnagar in North Parganas 24 district, where Thakurbari serves as the headquarters of the community led by the politically influential Thakur family.
The government estimates that Matuas form around 17% of the total electorate in the state and have a significant presence in 30 Assembly seats. The community’s own estimate is around 20% of the vote bank, with a direct impact in 40-45 seats.
These areas, including the Badga, Bangaon Uttar and Bangaon Daskhin constituencies saw significant deletions in the SIR’s first and second phases. Matua-dominated regions in north Bengal, like Matigara-Naxalbari and Dabgram-Phulbari, also saw a high number of deletions.
Muslim voters ‘under adjudication’
In Muslim-dominated districts, like Malda, Murshidabad, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas, many Assembly seats have seen less than 100 voters’ names being deleted. However, their cases under adjudication are significantly high.
“In minority-dominated districts, the number of adjudication cases are huge and will be decided by judicial officers and that is why in those districts the number of deletions is less,” a senior EC official said.
The data shows that the highest number of cases pending adjudication are in the minority-dominated Murshidabad, Malda, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Howrah and Uttar Dinajpur districts.
Political fallout
The Thakur family that leads the Matua community has prominent leaders in the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) as well as the principal Opposition BJP. While both parties had held camps to help voters during the SIR process in Matua belts, the BJP sees the community as the fulcrum of the pan-Hindu electoral support base it has been looking to build in Bengal.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Matua community had been crucial in helping the BJP win the party 18 of 42 seats in Bengal. However, the party has faced some backlash in the aftermath of the SIR since the first draft electoral rolls was published.
To bolster its supporters among Matuas, the BJP has been highlighting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The BJP’s Haringhata MLA Asim Sarkar said, “The BJP is not eying vote bank politics. The BJP is in favour of SIR as it is good for the country’s health. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee deliberately injected fear into the Matua community so they don’t file for citizenship under the CAA. If they had applied for the CAA, they would have already got citizenship of India.”
The TMC continued its criticisms of the SIR process, alleging “collusion” between the BJP and the EC to allegedly undermine the TMC’s considerable support among the Muslim community. TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said: “From the very first day of the SIR, we have been saying… mostly Scheduled Caste and tribal people will suffer, and that is now evident. The EC was also going to delete a huge number of minority electors, but they were stopped because Mamata Banerjee went to the Supreme Court, and these cases were sent for adjudication. The BJP, with the help of the EC, is now targeting minorities and their names are being sent for adjudication.”
Mamata’s sit-in
A day before her Friday dharna in Kolkata against the SIR exercise, the CM launched an attack on the BJP over “high voter deletions” in Matua-dominated areas.
Taking to X on the death anniversary of Matua Mahasangha matriarch Binapani Devi, Mamata on Thursday said: “But regrettably, the machinations of the BJP government at the Centre have pushed the Matua brothers and sisters into a volatile and confusing situation today. Politics is being played in the name of giving citizenship. Their identity is being questioned. SIR is deliberately excluding them from the voter list. Those who are hereditary citizens of this country, by whose votes the government is elected, are today being put in the face of uncertainty in the name of giving them a new ‘citizenship’.”
She also said, “We will not accept this injustice. Our struggle will continue against the ongoing attempt to take away the rights of the people of Bengal, including my Matua siblings… This is my pledge on this special day.”
