In the distant village of Chupipota in Nadia district, almost all conversations these days begin with either of two questions: “Is your name on the voter list?” and, “Have you appealed to the tribunal?”All 152 names up for adjudication in Chupipota village’s Booth No. 11 were found to be not eligible after the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR). In Booth No. 12, only 2 (Shaiful Islam and Abul Kalam Sheikh) of the 120 people up for adjudication found their names in the voter list.AdvertisementThe story is similar across Nadia as well as the districts of Hooghly and North 24 Parganas, with a high population of Matua and Muslim communities. Over 70% of the names under adjudication here due to “logical discrepancies” have been left out of electoral rolls. Nadia and North 24 Parganas also rank among districts with high overall deletions post-SIR.There are 17 Assembly constituencies in Nadia district. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the BJP had won 9 of them, with 8 going to the Trinamool Congress. However, after that, the TMC wrested two of the seats, Ranaghat Dakshin and Kaliganj, in bypolls. The lowest victory margin across the constituencies was about 7,000 votes in 2021 (Tehatta, won by the TMC), and the highest was more than 50,000 plus (Palashipara, won by the TMC).In North 24 Parganas, with 33 Assembly constituencies, the TMC won as many as 29 in 2021, with the BJP winning 4 – Gaighata, Bhatpara, Bangaon Uttar and Bagaon Dakshin. The victory margins here ranged from a low of 2,000-plus (Bangaon Dakshin) to more than 80,000 votes (Haroa, won by the TMC).AdvertisementIn Hooghly district, with 18 Assembly constituencies, the TMC had won 14 in 2021, with the BJP getting only 4. The BJP won three of its four seats with low margins, including the lowest for the district (Goghat, 4,000-plus votes). The highest victory margin was 41,000-plus votes in Chanditala, won by the TMC.The anger over exclusion from the voting list, and the failure of tribunals to offer any recourse so far, is palpable – and directed at the entire political spectrum.Shakila Bibi, 40, is deleted due to a discrepancy in her father’s name spelling – he was listed as Dolehar Sheikh in the 2002 SIR but later as Sheikh Dollar. She says that if she voted, she would not have picked either the BJP or Trinamool Congress.“I voted from 2006 to 2024, how come I am not a citizen now?… She (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) says she stands with us, but where was she when names were being deleted?… We realise now that we are only a vote bank.”’A local observer suggests the TMC fears as much. “There are 80,000 polling booths in Bengal… The margin between the TMC and BJP in a booth in general is 10,000-12,000… So the arithmetic of deletions may do the trick.”The most common reason for Muslim residents failing the adjudication test is being progeny of someone who has six or more children in the voter rolls already. For the Matuas, the predominant cause is mismatch with names of parents or the previous SIR.Piyaru Sheikh, 36, has been deleted as six others name Hussain Sheikh as their father. Piyaru insists he only has three siblings. “We submitted the family bansabali (family tree), but they didn’t consider it. On the other hand, my youngest brother Sanjay was included despite spelling mistakes.”The reason in the case of Nur Islam, 52, is that in the 2002 rolls, he is listed as ‘Nur Mohammad Sheikh’. “I have an affidavit (about this), I submitted it. If there was a mistake, they could have asked for more proof, but why deprive us of voting rights?”Rabbil Sheikh, the husband of Chupipota pradhan Sabnur Khatun, says 80% of the families in the village have two or more names who have been deleted.Kulchan Bibi, 75, says her husband Jamiruddin Sheikh, now deceased, was married twice. With Kulchan, Jamiruddin had five children, and four from his second wife. Now, while Kulchan Bibi and her daughters-in-law are included in electoral rolls, her two sons and two grandsons are deleted.One of her grandsons, Salim Sheikh (23), says he was looking forward to voting. “I got my voter I-card only in 2025… What if I never get a voter I-card after this?”The second grandson, Abdul Hossain (22), says that if he knew his voter application would be rejected, “I wouldn’t have filed it… It was a lengthy process. I would not have wasted so many days.”Congress Krishnanagar Dakshin candidate Abdur Rahim Shaikh says: “In this election, the BJP has done rigging by deleting those who will not vote for them. People feel the TMC has also supported the process to ensure that the politics in the state is binary, and other parties are kept out.”In his constituency in Nadia district, Shaikh says, there are 132 minority-dominated villages. “There are many villages where 10-15% of the votes have been deleted,” he says.The TMC won Krishnanagar Dakshin in 2021 by around 9,300 votes.At the same time, Shaikh believes the BJP will not gain in Nadia as, according to him, there are areas where 70% of the Hindu votes have been deleted.Sirsanya Halder, the son of TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, who is contesting from Uttarpara in Hooghly district, says: “In my constituency, 32,000 votes have been deleted… Most of those deleted are Hindi speakers and genuine voters. There are only 2% minority voters here.”Confident of a TMC win, he adds: “Our party is always at work on the ground, 365 days.” The TMC won from Uttarpara in 2021 by nearly 36,000 votes.Ranaghat Uttar Purbo BJP candidate Ashim Biswas says he remains confident that the party will retain the SC-reserved seat in Nadia, dominated by Matuas. The BJP won from here by 31,000-plus votes in 2021.“The BJP got the highest votes in 2021 and in 2024 in my region. Seventy percent of voters here are Matua. About 5,000-7,000 have been deleted, but this won’t impact the result. Hindu Sanatanis have united and they will vote against this government, which wins only through minority appeasement… There are no jobs, people have seen the extent of corruption,” Biswas says.However, the BJP seems to be underestimating the Matua anger. The party identified this Scheduled Caste community of Hindus who migrated from Bangladesh, and had been living without official status in Bengal, as a vote bank to get a leg-up in the state. The Modi government cited the community’s welfare as one of its main incentives for bringing in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.But citizenship has proved to not be as simple or as quick as promised – also due to the reluctance of people from the community to apply for it. Many already have the necessary identity documents, and fear that applying now would mark them out as “Bangladeshis”.In the SIR it has meant that many Matuas have not been able to furnish the papers required to show citizenship.In Murugacha Colony, among those deleted is Sumit Mallik, 21, despite his mother having submitted all the needed documents, he says.Anjana Haldar, born in 1996, lashes out: “They have been saying that all Matuas will get citizenship… But many Matuas have been deleted.”Ratna Biswas, whose family came from Bangladesh in 1959, says she is worried about her daughters. “My father and I both made our voter I-cards the same year in the 1980s. I gave all the details related to my husband, but his father’s name had spelling issues. Now both my husband’s name and mine have been cut… My daughters are 7 and 3 years old. What does the future hold for them?”Bitika Malik says she couldn’t fill out the appeal form because her Aadhaar card isn’t linked to her phone number. “I would rather choose not to vote if my vote is not important to them,” she says.