Queues formed early on Sunday outside 3,234 centres across West Bengal as hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls entered their second day.
Inside school buildings, block offices and temporary camps, thousands waited with files of documents, hoping their names would survive the scrutiny.
According to a senior official, around 32 lakh “unmapped” voters, those unable to establish linkage with the 2002 electoral roll, are being called for hearings in the first phase.
The exercise follows the Election Commission’s publication of the draft electoral rolls on December 16, after which more than 58 lakh names were deleted on grounds including death, migration and non-submission of enumeration forms.
At the Sankrail block office in Howrah district, 75-year-old Sabita Manna waited inside an ambulance. Afflicted by polio since childhood, she was anxious about reports of discrepancies in her voter details.
“My aunt, who has no child, could not find her name in the 2002 electoral roll. She cannot properly walk as she had been afflicted by polio at a very young age,” her nephew Tapas Manna said.
“While on earlier occasions she was visited by polling personnel and representatives of political parties at home and only had to come to the polling station on the day of the vote, this time they have made her physical presence mandatory,” he said.
From inside the ambulance, Sabita spoke quietly: “It hurts when, at this age, you have to prove your citizenship all over again.”
In the Barasat Kazipara area, Nirufa Khatoon stood beside her husband, visibly distressed. She had been called for a hearing because she could not show proof that her father had voted in the 2002 polls.
“I am an Indian citizen born in the Kamarhati area of North 24 Parganas. After marriage, I came to Kazipara in Barasat. However, my father had died and his name does not figure in the electoral roll, while my mother had died shortly after my birth. The BLO had assured me that things will be sorted out after the hearing. I am literally on the edge,” she said.
Her husband said she had come prepared.
“NIrufa has brought the school leaving certificate, birth certificate and aadhaar card, ration card and existing voter ID card. We hope things will be sorted as promised by the BLO earlier. Hope the AERO and micro observer will accept,” he said, adding he had asked his wife to explain everything clearly during the hearing.
In Midnapore town, around 100 residents from a cluster locally known as Hatath colony gathered at a nearby camp. Many said only a few names from each household appeared in the draft roll.
“Only two out of ten in a house find their names in the draft roll. The rest have been called for hearing. Yes, I was born in Bangladesh, but I came here in the late 80s and have voted regularly. I have many of the 11 documents as records. Keeping my fingers crossed. I am a Hindu married to a family who have its ancestral property here. They won't allow me to be deported to any camp,” a woman said, requesting anonymity.
In Bardhaman town, a family arrived at the Baranilpur camp without the voter concerned. The 26-year-old woman could not travel because her three-year-old daughter is undergoing treatment at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai.
“I am carrying the mailed medical record of my grand daughter's hospitalisation. I am also carrying all her documents. Let's see what the AERO and microobserver say,” her father-in-law said, declining to be named.
At Chetla High School in south Kolkata, Trinamool Congress MLA and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said many people might no longer need to appear for hearings.
“Many people - who are unmapped due to technical difficulties in linking despite giving all relevant data - don't have to attend the hearing any more as the onus falls on the ECI. I have been told by the CEO personnel that they don't have to attend hearing any more till the EC fixes the glitches and link their name properly with the 2002 electoral roll data,” Hakim said.