Bengaluru-based migrants from West Bengal face another expensive journey home after their names were missing from the state’s final electoral rolls despite attending hearings and submitting documents during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, according to a Times of India report. Many workers said they may have to travel back for the ongoing mop-up exercise, risking wages and spending close to a month’s income to restore their voting rights.
Tubrahalli and neighbouring parts of Bengaluru’s eastern IT corridor are home to thousands of Bengali-speaking migrant workers employed in construction, domestic work, delivery services and small businesses. Sharifull Sekh, vice-president of Bengali Kalyani Trust, estimated that around 13,000 Bengali families live in the area and that about 3,000 people had lost their voting rights during the SIR process.
Residents interviewed for the report said they had already spent an average of Rs 10,000 each travelling to West Bengal to respond to notices and attend hearings. Several said that, despite their documents being checked, their names did not appear in the final rolls. They now face the prospect of repeating the journey during the mop-up exercise, even if it means suspending work in Bengaluru.
Saheb Ali, a construction worker whose daily earnings in Bengaluru are reportedly twice what he can earn in his home state, said his name was flagged over a “logical discrepancy” involving the spelling of his father’s name in official records. He said he would temporarily stop construction work to correct the error. According to the report, he said that most members of his family were allowed to vote, while he and his sister were excluded.
Other residents described similar difficulties. Anarul Vishyas from Nadia said his hearing had been completed and he was told to return home, but his name was absent from the final roll. Sheefil Ali Shek said his domestic-worker wife lost her voting status after the couple attended three hearings and submitted documents, spending about Rs 10,000 on transport each time. Tea stall owner Adur Ali Shek said documents were collected from several migrants, but officials did not always clarify discrepancies during the process.
The reported cases include apparent errors in personal records. One woman, Jalema Bai, was recorded as being 60 rather than 35, according to her husband. Manowara Kha was reportedly flagged because more than six children were linked to her mother, despite her being one of nine siblings. These cases have left residents uncertain about which documents or corrections would be sufficient to secure their names on the rolls.
For many workers, the problem is compounded by their temporary residence in Bengaluru. Having moved to the city between two and five years ago, several said they lacked permanent residence certificates that could support enrolment in Karnataka through Form 6. Most preferred to restore their voting rights in West Bengal rather than begin a new enrolment process in Bengaluru.
The deletions have not affected access to ration so far, the report said. Sagari Khatun, a resident from Murshidabad whose seven-year-old son has thalassaemia, said no one had contacted her but that she would return if called to restore her voter identification. The immediate next step for affected residents is the mop-up exercise announced for voters left out of the final SIR rolls.
