As a Bengal seat goes to bye-polls, SIR deleted voters are stuck in limbo
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“These are only bye-elections, that’s all.”
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Jharna Khatun, 22, frowned when she heard what Chief Justice Surya Kant had said in the Supreme Court on Monday. The judge’s dismissive response was in reaction to petitioners asking for cases related to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal to be taken up urgently in light of the upcoming bye-polls.
Khatun had good reason to be displeased with the chief justice. She is one of the thousands who will not be able to vote in the bye-elections because her name was deleted from the voter list.
“Whenever elections come around, the mood is festive and we hope for change in our lives,” Khatun explained. “All our neighbours will experience this again, but not us. That is giving me a lot of grief.”
Her elder brother, Ibrahim Sheikh, whose name was also deleted along with hers, opposed the chief justice even more strongly. “Every vote holds value,” he stated. “You can never tell which vote could swing the result. People have even won elections by just one vote.”
For the second time in under six months, the siblings will watch the rest of Maradighi, a quiet hamlet dotted with ponds, queue up to vote at the village school – but not...