Deleted, and left in limbo

Across Bihar and West Bengal, lakhs of voters were deleted from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, leaving them unable to vote in the 2025 and 2026 Assembly elections. Over 47 lakh names were deleted in Bihar and nearly 91 lakh in West Bengal. Shrabana Chatterjee and Senjuti Sengupta met some of those affected, documenting the uncertainty, paperwork, and repeated attempts to prove their citizenship and eligibility that followed the deletions

Published - October 03, 2026 01:37 am IST

A Booth Level Officer checks documents during the Special Intensive Revision exercise at Jogbani, a municipal council area of Araria District in Bihar. File | Photo Credit: Shashi Shekhar Kashyap

Deepak Chauhan, 35, Siwan district, Bihar; Ziradei constituency; currently unemployed

Deepak Chauhan. | Photo Credit: Shrabana Chatterjee

Reason for deletion: Absent

Chauhan, who is disabled, says he has no idea why he was deleted from the list. He says he was at home at the time of the exercise and the booth-level officer (BLO) is also from his village. “The BLO knows that I live here and I am alive, but the BLO still marked me absent,” he says. Chauhan hopes that local volunteers and activists will be able to get his name on the list. “I live in a lot of pain because of my disability. I don’t know how to get my name back on the list. I had applied for a new card, but did not get it,” he says. Chauhan, who has never missed voting in an election, says he was unable to vote in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections. He last voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Ramashankar Sah, 70, Siwan district, Bihar; Ziradei constituency; farmer

Ramashankar Sah. | Photo Credit: Shrabana Chatterjee

Reason for deletion: Already registered

Sah says he had submitted all the documents and has never voted anywhere except in his own constituency. “The cause of deletion is ‘already registered’. Why did they remove my name? I don’t understand,” he says. He has asked local officials for help, but no one has been able to give him an answer. Local activists are now helping him. Sah was unable to vote in the 2025 Bihar Assembly polls. He says the panchayat elections are scheduled for early 2027, but he does not know if his name will be restored. He says: “I have always voted, but I may not get to vote again. How is that okay?”

Sunil Sah, 36, Siwan district, Bihar; Ziradei constituency; Border Security Force personnel

Sunil Sah. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

Reason for deletion: Already registered

Sah’s father says his son was not present during the process to fill up the form. His family filled up the form, yet Sah’s name was struck off the rolls. “He is a government servant. He is serving the nation. And yet his vote has been taken away,” says Sah’s father. He adds that local activists are helping them fill up Form 6, so that they can be registered as new voters. Sah did not come back from duty to vote in the 2025 elections because his name was deleted, says his father. “Otherwise, he always tries to come back to exercise his democratic right to vote,” he says.

Durgabati Devi, 47; Siwan district, Bihar; Ziradei constituency; homemaker

Durgabati Devi. | Photo Credit: Shrabana Chatterjee

Reason for deletion: Already registered

Devi says she had filled up all the forms that the BLO had provided. “I submitted the documents, did everything that was asked of me. Yet they deleted my name without any cause,” she says. Devi has asked the local officials why her name was deleted and what she should do to get it restored, but again, no one has answers. She is unsure of whether she will ever be able to get back on the electoral rolls. Since her name is absent, Devi says she could not vote in 2025. “For a poor person like me, exercising my franchise is the only power I have in this country. That power has been taken away from me,” she says.

Shri Bhagwan Sah; 52; Siwan district, Bihar; Ziradei constituency; farmer

Shri Bhagwan Sah. | Photo Credit: Shrabana Chatterjee

Reason for deletion: Already registered

Sah says he has only one voter card. “This feels like a targeted attack. My whole family was deleted under the same cause,” he says. Sah says only local political workers from the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation are helping the family by conducting surveys to find out whose names were wrongfully deleted. He hopes that they will be able to help him get his name back on the rolls. Sah also says he has never missed voting in any election. “But now I fear that I may not get to vote again. This is what they call ‘vote chori’. The most marginalised people — Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes — have been impacted by this,” he says.