Kamal Ghorui
BEHRAMPORE/SHAMSHERGANJ: Around midnight on the eve of polling in Murshidabad, cops visited the homes of many voters struck off under SIR, warning them not to go near booths on Thursday. On poll day, many defied those warnings and turned up to protest their exclusion.Clutching his voter ID, Aadhaar and documents, Behrampore toto driver Imtiaz Khan (41) stood outside a booth, pleading with central forces to let him meet officials. “I submitted my documents and attended hearings five times. I have been voting for 20 years. My family is voting, but I can’t,” he said.Somnath Kangsabanik, a cook, said five of 13 in his family were deleted. “Still, I have come — this is my protest.”At Qutubpur, businessman Waquar Ali Mirza, whose name was missing, urged others to vote. “I submitted all my documents. Now, I want to ensure others vote against SIR,” he said.The sense of exclusion cut across generations. Syed Reza Ali Meerza (82), who traces his lineage to Mir Jafar, planned a protest but stayed back after advice from the police.Shamsherganj, with over 90,000 deletions, saw similar scenes. Outside a booth in Digri, nearly 300 people stood silently with voter cards they couldn’t use. Ironically, the constituency recorded close to 95% polling.In Jafrabad, a Hindu-majority pocket surrounded by Muslim-dominated neighbourhoods — kin of victims of last year’s violence voted, calling it “revenge through the ballot”. “We want justice,” said Parul Das, whose husband and son were killed.
