CPI slams mass deletion of 90 lakh voters in West Bengal
The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Friday raised a red flag over the “mass deletion” of nearly 90 lakh voters from the electoral rolls in West Bengal, terming the exercise a “systematic disenfranchisement” of citizens in the middle of an election campaign.
In a strongly-worded letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, CPI General Secretary D Raja expressed “profound unease” at the scale of removals following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the State.
The veteran leader alleged that the process has inverted the burden of proof, forcing ordinary citizens to prove their legitimacy rather than the State verifying their status.
“The reported removal of nearly ninety lakh names from the rolls is not merely a matter of numbers but a reflection of widespread anguish, uncertainty and exclusion among ordinary citizens,” Raja stated in the letter released by the party’s office in New Delhi.
He further contended that the process conveys an impression of a “mass-cleansing” of rolls, disproportionately affecting the poor, the marginalised and the elderly.
“Families are finding themselves partially erased, and the marginalised are pushed into processes they cannot reasonably navigate,” he said, adding that such developments hollow out the substantive content of participatory democracy.
The CPI leader also questioned the timing of the exercise, noting that West Bengal is currently in the midst of a high-decibel election campaign, with polling scheduled for 23 and 29 April.
“The Election Commission of India, vested with constitutional authority under Article 324, must uphold its mandate of neutrality. The right to vote must be upheld at all costs,” Raja asserted.
Registering a “strong protest,” the CPI urged the poll panel to intervene and guarantee the right to vote for every citizen, ensuring that genuine voters are not silenced by institutional technicalities.
