Hundreds of citizens in Kolkata faced a gruelling ordeal this week as they queued for hours at hearing centres, braving the cold, only to be sent back due to missing or unexpected documentation required for voter list revisions.
A Cycle of Waiting and Rejection
Outside the Jessop Building and other designated centres, long, slow-moving lines formed. People clutched files, anxiously refreshed their phones, and rehearsed answers, hoping to resolve discrepancies in the draft electoral roll. For many, the wait ended in frustration when officials demanded additional papers they were unaware they needed.
Chandrakala Jaiswal, a 75-year-old resident of Amherst Street, waited for two hours on Monday before entering the hearing room. Her relief was short-lived. She was instructed to return with documents from her parental home, which she did not possess. Her daughter, Anita Jaiswal, explained that while her elder brothers' names remained on the draft roll, both her and her mother's names had been deleted. "We brought all the documents, but we were unaware that we needed to bring this particular document," Anita stated, adding they would now consult their Booth Level Officer (BLO) before returning.
The Hunt for Elusive Pages and Cross-State Records
For others, the challenge was retrieving specific pages from old records. Naresh Sharma stood in the open area of Jessop Building, scrolling furiously on his smartphone from noon until 4 pm. He was trying to download a missing front page of the 2002 Summary Revision (SIR) roll, which had suddenly become crucial for his wife's hearing. "I brought the list from Rajasthan, but the front page was missing," he said.
The issue crossed state borders for Anuradha Lakhotia of Jorasanko. Although her family's names exist in the rolls of Uttar Pradesh, her parental home state, she was asked to produce the front page of an earlier SIR roll listing her parents and grandparents. Her son, Nikunj, expressed frustration at the lack of prior information. "I have the previous SIR roll, and my grandparents' names are there, but where do I get the front page? We should have been informed when we were served notice."
Lost Documents and Unprecedented Paperwork
Some citizens faced even more profound difficulties. Purnima Ghosh from Bowbazar was asked to present her parents' documents, but her parents are not mentally stable. Compounding the problem, a fire that gutted their village home years ago destroyed most of their family records.
The uncertainty led to exhaustive preparation. At the Aliah University hearing centre, Alia Islam sorted through thick bundles of papers, including voter IDs, Aadhaar cards, school and graduation certificates, bank passbooks, land records from Bihar, and electricity bills. "My mother and father are voters of Bihar. I have been staying here for 13 years and am a voter from Alimuddin Street. My name was not there in the 2002 roll," she explained. The notice threw her into a panic, leading to a "maddening task" of gathering documents without knowing exactly what would be required.
Even those who believed their registration was secure were drawn into the chaos. Senior citizen Michelle Baker, whose name was already on the 2002 list, was still summoned. She had to leave her ill husband at home on Imdad Ali Lane and come with her daughter, who in turn had to leave her children behind.
The scenes across Kolkata's hearing centres paint a picture of a process fraught with communication gaps and administrative hurdles, leaving voters to navigate a complex web of documentation often spanning decades and state lines.
