Kolkata: A 58-year-old domestic worker in central Kolkata today worries less about her precarious livelihood and more about her citizenship.
Working as a maid in a residential building, she has received a notice from the Election Commission asking her and her son to appear for a hearing on January 3 as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
“I was born in the Kasba area in 1967. My father had migrated from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh,” she said, requesting anonymity. “I lost my father when I was 18 or 19. Later, my mother also passed away in her native village. These days, I live in constant tension.”
Her anxiety is rooted not in doubt over her nationality, but in the absence of documents—many of which she says were lost to circumstances beyond her control.
“About 25 years ago, we shifted to Ghutiari. My husband, who struggled with mental illness and alcoholism, went missing from Chittaranjan Hospital during treatment. Six months later, my son died in a railway accident. He was only 17,” she said.
That year, Kolkata witnessed severe flooding. “We lived in a kachcha house. Many documents related to my parents and husband were destroyed. At that time, survival mattered more than papers,” she said.
She added that in recent years, repeated cyclones—including Amphan—further worsened their situation. “I do not have old documents linking my parents. But I have all my personal records—PAN, Aadhaar, voter ID, ration card.”
Her case reflects a larger, unfolding concern in West Bengal, where large sections of voters now face scrutiny in multiple phases of the SIR exercise.
Bengal’s Voter Revision: Who Is Under Scrutiny and Why
According to official figures, 58 lakh voters were deleted in the first draft of the electoral rolls in West Bengal. Additionally, 1.67 crore electors who remain in the draft are expected to receive notices for verification.
Of these, the Election Commission has identified:
31 lakh electors whose records lack mapping, and
1.36 crore electors with what it terms “logical discrepancies.”
In the first phase alone, around 10 lakh electors have already been issued notices for hearings, The Indian Express reported.
Unlike Bihar—where deletions were confined largely to the first draft—West Bengal’s voter verification process will continue through second and third phases, meaning that inclusion in the first draft does not guarantee retention in the final roll.
Election officials have so far issued around 32 lakh notices through Booth Level Officers (BLOs) for discrepancies. The remaining notices—covering the bulk of the 1.67 crore voters—will be issued directly by the Chief Election Officer (CEO).
Why Voters Are Getting Notices in Bengal’s Roll Revision
According to officials, notices are being issued in three broad categories:
Cases where voters are linked to grandparents instead of parents
Instances where a father is listed as having six or more children
Age-related inconsistencies, such as a father being less than 15 years older than a child, or more than 55 years older
However, voters and researchers argue that many discrepancies stem from administrative and technological errors rather than voter misrepresentation.
Old Rolls, New Errors: How AI Translation Triggered Voter Notices
A significant number of notices trace back to the 2002 voter list, which was originally prepared in Bengali and later translated into English using artificial intelligence tools.
In several cases, names were distorted during translation. For instance, a voter named Nimai Banerjee reportedly received a notice after his father’s surname was altered to “Byneerjnzee.” Similarly, the father’s surname of another voter, Rana Banik, was changed to “Vanek,” triggering a discrepancy notice.
Voters are now being asked to explain or correct errors that were neither created nor controlled by them.
Experts Warn Second Phase Poses Biggest Risk to Bengal Voters
Social activist Yogendra Yadav, who has raised objections to the SIR exercise before the Supreme Court, warned during a recent visit to Kolkata that the second phase would pose the most serious challenge for voters in Bengal.
A researcher tracking the process said, “The deletion of 58 lakh voters in the first draft was a ‘safe deletion’ carried out at the BLO level. Many people believe that the danger is over once their names appear in the draft. That assumption is incorrect.”
“The real test lies in responding to notices and satisfying the authorities. The question is how many voters—especially the poor, elderly, migrants, and disaster-affected—will be able to do that,” the researcher added.
He also flagged a critical concern: “If a voter’s name does not appear in the final roll, there is effectively no further forum available to prove citizenship or voting rights.”Notices Flood
Booths as North and South 24 Parganas Hit Hard
Reports from the field suggest that as many as 100 voters in a single booth have received notices in some areas, with North and South 24 Parganas emerging as the most affected districts.
As hearings begin, the process has placed millions of voters in a state of uncertainty—particularly those whose lives have been shaped by migration, poverty, natural disasters, and administrative neglect.
For many like the 58-year-old domestic worker in Kolkata, the fear is not of being foreign—but of being unable to prove what they have always been.
