Divided by the river and united by SIR: Mothabari and Samserganj vote amidst high voter deletions

It is the mighty river Ganga which divides West Bengal the state into north Bengal and south Bengal. The constituencies of Mothabari in Malda and Samserganj in Murshidabad are located on opposite banks of the river but are united by the deletions during Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

Md. Alauddin Sheikh, a young man who runs a local shop selling wall paint, is among the seven members of his family who cannot vote in this election. When he enters his EPIC number on the portal of the Election Commission of India (ECI), it says “under adjudication”. The reason for his name being listed under the adjudication list is that five of his siblings have shown their link to a single parent. There are half a dozen polling booths in the gram panchayat where the deletions of voters exceed 60%.