TMC intensifies protests over SIR errors as living voters marked ‘dead’ in Bengal

Kolkata: Serious discrepancies in Bengal’s draft voter list prepared under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) have sparked statewide outrage, with several living voters wrongly declared “dead” or “missing”.

The ruling Trinamool Congress has staged protests across the state over the SIR process, describing it as “hasty” and “unplanned”.

In Naihati, elderly resident Someshwar Karmakar was stunned to find himself listed as deceased, prompting curious locals to gather outside his house.

Reacting with irony, the man remarked that he might as well go to the crematorium. Sanat Dey, the local councillor, said: “It is not a mere mistake but a conspiracy by the BJP and the Election Commision.”

In Asansol’s Barabani area, Bhimchandra Mandal (70) was shown as dead while his elder sister Sarathi Mandal (88) was marked missing, despite both being alive. The family said all documents had been submitted during the enumeration. Similar discrepancies have been reported from multiple North Bengal districts, including Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Uttar Dinajpur, raising concerns about the credibility of the SIR exercise.

Another voter from Narayanpur, Namkhana, who filled the enumeration form with all required details, found himself marked as “dead” in the draft list. Harekrishna Giri, who is a voter of 260 no booth, stated: “The election officials said they would take measures to correct the mistake. I felt bad, I want an investigation on this.”

The controversy had first erupted after the draft list showed Dankuni Municipality Ward 18 councillor Surya Dey among deceased voters. The error snowballed into a political flashpoint when the Trinamool Congress (TMC) councillor staged a symbolic protest by going to a crematorium to perform his own “last rites.” On Sunday, a symbolic condolence meeting marking his “symbolic death” was organised, where TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission and the BJP, accusing them of turning living citizens into “dead voters.”

Earlier, in Chinsurah, young professional Devomoy Bhattacharya was also wrongly declared dead despite verification by a Booth Level Officer, prompting his elderly parents to seek corrections. Along with these, the same discrepancies were found in Cooch Behar, North Dinajpur and Kolkata.

The ruling Trinamool Congress has condemned the SIR process, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee calling it “hasty” and “unplanned.”

On Sunday, protest meetings were held at Nandigram and in Asansol, demanding immediate correction of voter lists and safeguarding of democratic rights. The party warned that such errors threaten public trust in the electoral system ahead of elections.