The presence of a large number of minorities in several Muslim-dominated Assembly segments of Bengal, including Samserganj and Suti in Murshidabad, in the under-adjudication category has triggered anxiety ahead of the expected announcement of the Assembly election dates.
In constituencies such as Samserganj and Suti in Murshidabad, booth-level statistics show that a large number of minority community voters are “under adjudication”. Many Hindu voters initially flagged for logical discrepancies were eventually cleared during scrutiny.
The pattern has raised suspicion among members of the minority community, who say the outcome that has left lakhs uncertain about their electoral status lacks a logical explanation.
With barely two weeks remaining before the formal announcement of the polls, many Muslim voters fear that their names may not be validated in time and they wouldn’t be able to vote.
The Trinamool Congress leadership has flagged it as a ploy by the EC to keep Muslims outside the voter list so that they can’t vote for the party.
Data emerging from several constituencies appear to reinforce these apprehensions. The highest number of voters currently marked “under adjudication” in Bengal is Sujapur in Malda, followed by Samserganj and Suti in Murshidabad. In these three minority-dominated areas, at least 75 per cent of voters are under adjudication.
At the booth level, several examples cited by local political workers and residents suggest a “striking imbalance” in the outcome of the SIR hearing verification process.
Patterns of ‘exclusion’
In Samserganj, where 1.19 lakh voters or around 80 per cent of voters are under adjudication, polling station 203 in Basudebpur reflects a curious case. It has 757 voters, of whom only eight are Muslims. Hearing notices for logical discrepancies were issued to 79 voters, including eight Muslim voters. However, the preliminary final voter list published on February 28 shows all eight Muslim voters are under adjudication. All Hindu voters were cleared in the hearings.
The booth-level officer (BLO) of this polling station, Shyamal Chakraborty, said: “Even though everyone else was cleared during the hearing, the names of the eight Muslim voters have been kept under adjudication. I feel very bad, but I have nothing to
do with it.”
A similar pattern emerged at booth 211 in the Madhya Chachantha area of Samserganj. Of the 1,180 voters, most of whom are Muslims, hearing notices for logical discrepancies were issued to 698 voters. The published voter list, however, shows all 698 voters remain under adjudication.
At booth 215 at Jaladipur village of Samserganj, hearing notices were issued to 116 out of 780 voters. Among them, 82 were Hindus and 24 Muslims. The published voter list indicates all Hindu voters have been approved, but 24 Muslim voters remain under adjudication.
Kaushik Singh, a gram panchayat member, accused the Election Commission of “communal bias”.
“The Election Commission’s move smacks of communal bias. I have filed a written complaint. Despite submitting required documents, Muslim voters have been kept under adjudication,” he said.
Similar complaints have also surfaced in the Suti Assembly segment, where 11 lakh or roughly 75 per cent voters are under adjudication. At booth 66 in Nimtita, hearing notices were issued to 541 out of 1,099 voters. According to local sources, all voters submitted their documents during the verification process. Yet, after publication of the revised electoral roll, all 541 Muslim voters were shown “under adjudication”.
BLO Osul Islam called the outcome baffling. “It is quite surprising that despite submitting documents, all 541 voters who were called for hearings have been kept under adjudication. This is mysterious and suspicious and proves that the EC is communal and unconstitutional,” he said.
Opposing claims
Trinamool leaders alleged that Samserganj, Suti and Sujapur were not isolated cases, with similar patterns in several other minority-dominated Assembly segments with a large number of Muslim voters placed under adjudication.
“It is a ploy to nullify Muslim voters who mostly support Mamata Banerjee,” a Trinamool Congress leader in Murshidabad said.
The controversy comes in the wake of Bengal’s preliminary final electoral roll published on February 28 after the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise. According to official figures, the names of over 60 lakh voters in Bengal were either deleted or kept under adjudication, pending clearance by
judicial officers.
Trinamool’s Samserganj MLA Amirul Islam alleged: “The EC on BJP’s directive has kept over one lakh Muslim voters under adjudication. The EC’s motive is to conduct the Assembly polls by keeping under adjudication Trinamool’s bona fide
support base.”
Rejecting the allegations, BJP’s Murshidabad MLA Gouri Shankar Ghosh said: “Trinamool is accusing the BJP and the EC out of frustration. They are afraid of losing the elections.” He claimed that in his constituency, a bulk of excluded voters were Hindus.
Senior Congress leader and former Baharampur MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded that the electoral roll be thoroughly rectified before any election is conducted. “The fate of 60 lakh voters hangs in the balance. I have started preparing to move the Supreme Court,”
he said.
Asked for his views on “bias against minorities”, Murshidabad district election officer Nitin Singhania refused to comment.