Political graffiti, party symbols, and candidate names splashed across freshly whitewashed walls; the faces of leaders beaming down from billboards and banners put up all around; and the cacophony of candidates out on the roads to make their case to voters. Though the first phase of the Assembly polls in West Bengal is over a month away, parties have decided their candidates and the poll campaign is in full swing in several parts of the state.
In contrast, an air of uncertainty and fear prevails in several villages in the state as the fate of 60 lakh voters remains up in the air because their names are in the adjudication list. With their fate in the hands of 700 judicial officers, including 200 from neighbouring Odisha and Jharkhand, these people do not yet know if they will find themselves in the electoral rolls. For these people, many of whom are migrant labourers working in other states, getting their names on the electoral rolls is important as it is tied to their livelihoods. They are afraid that their employers, wary of giving jobs to undocumented immigrants, may fire them if their names are not on the voter lists.
Amid this uncertainty, the Election Commission (EC) may publish the first supplementary electoral roll list on Monday. Those among the 60 lakh who will be rejected can then file appeals in the 19 tribunals that have been set up across the state. The Indian Express visited the villages of Jaygram and Gajipara in Minakhan in North 24 Parganas district, about 45 km from Kolkata, and Machibhanga and Bhumru in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, about 29 km from the capital, to meet villagers spending their days in anxiety.
In Jaygram, Moinuddin Baidya, a 45-year-old stationery shop owner, and his wife Mumtaz say they are feeling helpless. While their daughter Sumaiya’s name has been added to the voters’ list after SIR, both of their applications are under adjudication.
“What will happen to us if our names are not on the list? What about identity? Will we be thrown out of the country? Where will we go? This is our land,” says Mumtaz. The couple are among the 180 of the village’s 790 voters whose names are under adjudication.
About 6 km away, in Gajipara, 365 of 950 voters are under the scrutiny of judges. Here, six of 67-year-old Akher Ali Mullick’s seven sons and their wives are on the adjudication list. Their names had been flagged for what the EC has termed “logical discrepancies” (such as implausible age gaps between parents and their offspring, or when a person has six or more children).
“They all linked their name with me as I was a voter in the 2002 list. All of them were summoned to a hearing. The officers said all the papers were in order, but now their names have been sent for adjudication,” says Mullick. One of his sons, Abu Bakar, sounds exasperated. “My father and mother are in the list. Why shouldn’t I or my wife be there? It’s not my fault that I have six brothers.”
Fellow villager Alamin Gaji, a 44-year-old e-rickshaw driver, is on the same boat because he, too, has six siblings. He is on the adjudication list along with his wife, four brothers, and their spouses.
Several villagers claimed that while political parties, including the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), initially supported them, their attention had shifted since the election dates were announced.
“In the initial phase of SIR, the ruling party organised camps. They helped during the hearings, too. Since the elections started, everyone has been busy with campaigning. And no one is heeding our pleas. The local leaders of all the parties are saying it is up to the courts now and that they cannot help us,” says Nurul Hossain Gazi, 33, whose brother Hasanur (31) and sister Nargees Parveen (20) are on the adjudication list.
South 24 Parganas
In Machibhanga, the conversation at a tea stall is all about the adjudication cases, not the elections or candidates. Of the 1,600 voters in the two polling booths, the names of 200 are still under scrutiny.
Among them is local panchayat member Mirza Hassan (46). “My name in the 2002 roll was Mollah Mirza Hassan and in the last roll, it was corrected to Mirza Hassan. For that reason, I was summoned to a hearing. I am a panchayat member and have all the documents. And yet, I am under adjudication. Two of my uncles who were in government service and receive pensions are also in the adjudication list,” he says.
Around 15 km away in Bhumru, villagers are worried about what they will do if their names are rejected. Md Abdur Rajjak Ali Mollah says his application was rejected because the local Booth Level Officer (BLO) made a mistake while recording his father’s name. “If they remove my name, we will have to appeal to a tribunal. How much money will we spend? Since SIR was announced, we have been running around and standing in queues.”
Why migrants workers are worried
Migrant workers are among the people likely to be hit hardest if their applications to be included in the voter roll are rejected.
Over the past year, many have alleged harassment in several BJP-ruled states, including being detained on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals living illegally in the country. Some were even pushed across the border into Bangladesh.
Jaygram resident Alamgir Baidya, 29, says he and his wife, Meherunnissa, work as housekeeping staff at a hotel in Santacruz in Mumbai. He has been back home since January and is worried about losing his job. “The hotel manager has been calling me. They threatened that if I failed to join work, they would employ someone else. I sent my wife to Mumbai on March 1, since her name is on the voter list. But she cannot stay in Mumbai alone, so she returned seven days later. How will I run my family if we both lose our jobs?” he says.
From Dwarka in New Delhi, Rehana Khatun almost breaks down in tears while speaking to Express. The 28-year-old, who is from the village of Borobalasi in Coochbehar district’s Dinhata area and takes care of elderly people, says she could not return home for the hearings since she did not get any leave.
“I lost my husband and have a little girl who stays with my parents in our village. My family depends on my and my brother’s incomes. If my name is struck off the rolls, how will I get a job here? They always check the voter card. And there is no job back home,” she says.
Daily wager Sharaful Islam who works in Odisha’s Sambalpur shares Rehana’s worries. Back home in Murshidabad, his name is on the adjudication list along with that of his son. “My son and I work as masons in Odisha. There have already been cases of the police detaining Bengali-speaking migrants. We come here because the pay is good and we get work for long periods of time. Won’t it be easy for people to brand us as Bangladeshis if we do not have names in the voter roll?” he says.
Parijayee Shramik Aikya Manch (Migrant Workers Unity Forum) state general secretary Asif Faruk tells Express over the phone that migrants will be affected the most because the voter card is a key document that helps them get jobs.”The state government estimates there are 36 lakh migrants, while unofficial estimates place the figure at about 59 lakh. Until the adjudication process is completed, an interim alternative mechanism should be introduced to ensure that their identity and employment are not adversely affected. Secondly, the verification process should be simplified and made more transparent and humane. Those whose names have been successfully mapped with previous electoral rolls, including the 2002 voter list, should be promptly recognised as valid voters,” he says.