ECI challenges inclusion of 76,000 voters, mostly Muslim, in Bengal constituencies

Despite being cleared by judicial officers, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is accused of challenging the inclusion of more than 76,000 voters, most of whom belong to the Muslim community, in two constituencies in West Bengal's border districts of Murshidabad and Malda, with the intention of permanently striking their names off the electoral rolls.

An investigation by The Wire, based on appeal records collected and verified by the Civic Research Group (CRG), found that the ECI had challenged the inclusion of 15,195 voters in Samserganj constituency in Murshidabad and 61,066 in Sujapur constituency in Malda, despite their names having been retained following judicial scrutiny under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

The appeals reveal contrasting patterns of exclusion in the two constituencies. In Samserganj, judicial officers had rejected 69 per cent of the 1,08,400 voters placed under adjudication, leaving 33,152 on the electoral roll, against the inclusion of 15,195 of whom the commission subsequently appealed. In Sujapur, however, judges cleared 1,07,690 of the 1,34,521 voters scrutinised, deleting only 20 per cent, before the ECI challenged more than half of those cleared.

If all the appeals succeed, Samserganj could lose 83 per cent of the voters initially placed under adjudication, while Sujapur would lose 65 per cent, taking the number of adjudicated voters removed in the latter constituency from 26,829 to 87,895.

The religious composition of those targeted is particularly striking, with 15,177 of the 15,195 voters challenged in Samserganj, or 99.9 per cent, having recognisably Muslim names. In Sujapur, the corresponding figure stands at 60,823 out of 61,066, or 99.6 per cent.

The report, however, cautions that Muslims constitute approximately 72 per cent of Samserganj's population and 75 per cent of Sujapur's, and therefore the figures alone do not establish selective targeting on religious grounds.

Questions have also emerged over the timing and manner of the appeals, with 72,838 of the 76,156 pending cases, accounting for 96 per cent, carrying an identical timestamp of April 5, 2026, just two days before the electoral rolls were frozen for the Assembly election.

The TMC retained both seats, with Mohammed Noor Alam winning Samserganj by 7,587 votes and Sabina Yeasmin securing Sujapur by 60,287 votes, margins smaller than the respective numbers of voters challenged by the ECI.

Meanwhile, tribunals have disposed of only 105 appeals across the two constituencies, leaving tens of thousands pending. The wider CRG dataset shows that 18,78,669 of 19,15,941 appeals filed by deleted electors across West Bengal remained undecided as of September 28, raising further questions about the pace of the appellate process.