Fifty-five-year-old Anjana Chakraborty has been running from door to door, desperate to understand why her son, who cannot speak and has difficulty moving his limbs, remains “under adjudication”.

Anjana and her husband’s names appear on the post-SIR electoral roll published on February 28, but their 30-year-old son, Lokenath, does not. The family are residents of Chetla Haat Road.

Anjana is deeply fearful about the future and well-
being of her physically challenged son.

“If someone’s parents are on the voters’ list, how can the child be under adjudication on the same list?” asked Anjana.

“I do not know whether he will continue to receive the monthly assistance he now gets from the state government if his name is struck off the voters’ list. We have a store in Kalighat. If we want to transfer the store to our son, can it be done if his name is not on the list?” she asked.

Lokenath was served an SIR hearing notice, and Anjana took him to the centre, submitting his birth certificate. “Yet his name was not included,” she said, frustration and anger clear in her voice.

Anjana and her family are not alone in this anxiety. Over 60.06 lakh voters were under adjudication when the post-SIR rolls were published.

Many were expecting a supplementary list — showing the results of adjudicated cases — to be published on Friday, but it did not appear.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee highlighted the issue while releasing her party’s manifesto on Friday.

“The SIR list that was supposed to be published today did not come out. They are wasting days. I have heard 22 lakh of the 60 lakh cases have been decided, but 10 lakh names out of them have been removed,” Mamata said.

“Most of the names deleted are from Malda and Murshidabad. They are targeting one community. Many Hindus have been removed, too,” she said.

“We want everyone to retain their voting rights. We do not want an NRC (National Register of Citizens),” she added.

In Beniapukur, a family has the names of both parents and their son and daughter under adjudication. “The anxiety is building up every day. We are made to feel like second-class citizens,” said a family member. He added that even the excitement and joy of Eid were muted this year.

The Election Commission has announced polling in Bengal in two phases — April 23 and April 29 — but has not clarified the fate of voters whose rights remain under adjudication.

On Monday, Bengal’s chief electoral officer, Manoj Agarwal, said nearly 20 lakh of the 60.06 lakh under-adjudication cases had been disposed of.