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.
