KOLKATA: For three siblings, all of whom are working as govt medical officers, Thursday was a hectic day. They were busy filing online appeals to the tribunal to have their names enrolled in the electoral rolls. During the SIR adjudication process, their names were deleted, while their mother’s name was included through the same process.The family, residing in the Ranitala PS area of the Bhagabangola Assembly constituency in Murshidabad, remains hopeful that the tribunal will give them justice.Nabin Chowdhury, currently posted at the ICU of Chanchal Superspeciality Hospital in Malda, was deeply disappointed to find that his name, along with the names of his two sisters — Aleya Sultana and Tania Sultana — was deleted. He took to social media, noting that although he has never failed an exam in his life, he failed to prove he was a genuine voter. “For the first time in my life, I am failing these ECI processes, and we have even been unable to clear the supplementary stages,” he remarked.Chowdhury said: “My mother, Nur Sheda Khatun, a health department staff member, is certainly lucky to have her name on the rolls. Her name was included in the electoral roll through the same process by which ours were deleted. I do not understand the logic behind our exclusion. All three of us are now trying to submit our mother’s electoral roll data. However, the online submission process does not provide a way to upload it, so we plan to send hard copies to the DM’s office as well.““My elder sister, Aleya, was earlier the block medical officer of health (BMOH) in North Dinajpur. After completing her Master’s in gynaecology, she is now posted at Swasthya Bhavan. My other sister, Tania, is working as a medical officer for the Delhi govt. The names of all three of us were deleted from the supplementary SIR list. Does this mean we are all foreigners?”Chowdhury, who is 30, stated that his father, Md Ali Hossain, was a teacher. To support the inclusion of his own name, Chowdhury submitted his birth certificate, his class X and XII pass certificates, his state medical council registration certificate, his ID card and his father’s passport. Since these documents did not suffice, he now plans to submit his service ID card as well to prove his status.The siblings, who maintain full faith in the judiciary, cannot fathom why they were excluded and have filed their appeals with the optimistic belief that they will be reinstated on the voters’ list.
