The Congress, Trinamool Congress, and CPI(M) have launched a sharp attack on the central government after former The Telegraph editor R Rajagopal revealed that his passport renewal was held up because his name was removed from West Bengal's electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Rajagopal's civic ordeal
In a detailed note, Rajagopal described being in a "state of civic uncertainty," spending considerable time reconstructing decades-old family records. An adverse police report linked to his omission from the electoral rolls delayed his passport renewal. "Like nearly 27 lakh other residents of West Bengal, I was excluded on account of what were described as 'logical discrepancies'. No reason was furnished even after I submitted my matriculation certificate, and my appeal is now pending before one of the tribunals constituted pursuant to the Supreme Court's directions," Rajagopal wrote.
He added that his biometric formalities for passport renewal were completed on March 19, 2026, but police verification was not cleared because his name no longer appeared on the electoral roll. Rajagopal emphasized that his intention was not to portray himself as a victim but to highlight the predicament of ordinary citizens. "If someone who spent his professional life in journalism and edited a relatively known newspaper can encounter such difficulties, one can only imagine what the truly marginalised must endure," he wrote.
Opposition reaction
The post drew strong political reactions, with opposition leaders linking his experience to the controversial SIR exercise carried out by the Election Commission in West Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections. Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha said the episode reflected "the level of irrationality" the country had reached. "Are we determined to remove the tag of a nation governed by the rule of law so assiduously curated by our founding fathers! What a pity!!" he wrote on X.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose described Rajagopal's account as "shocking" and "heart-rending." "If this can happen to R Rajagopal, former editor of The Telegraph, imagine what citizens with far fewer resources are enduring," she said. CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby alleged that the SIR exercise was being used to disenfranchise people and "determine citizenship in furtherance of the BJP's divisive Hindutva agenda." Baby noted that the CPI(M) had warned from the outset that the SIR exercise would disenfranchise the poor and vulnerable, and now even a reputed editor had been denied his right to vote.
Legal and political controversy
The SIR in West Bengal has sparked political and legal controversy after lakhs of electors were either deleted from the rolls or placed under adjudication. The Supreme Court declined to halt the exercise but directed the creation of appellate tribunals headed by retired high court judges to hear challenges against the deletion of names. Rajagopal's post comes amid continuing litigation and appeals arising from the SIR process, with several petitioners contending that despite producing government-issued identity documents, their names were either deleted or kept under adjudication.
