Shri. M. A. Baby, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has written to the Chief Election Commissioner against the backdrop of the large-scale deletion of voters from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). He has urged that the constitutional right to vote must be guaranteed by the ECI, at any cost.
We are herewith releasing the text of the letter for publication.
April 9, 2026
The Chief Election Commissioner
Election Commission of India
New Delhi
Sir,
I am writing to express my Party’s anguish, grave concern and strong protest over the large-scale deletion of voters from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Reports indicate that over 90 lakh voters, roughly 12 per cent of the electorate of the state, have been excluded from the rolls. A significant number were placed under an impervious category of “under adjudication”, only to find that the promised mechanisms for redressal were inaccessible and non-operational.
We have since the outset held that contrary to a routine administrative updating of electoral rolls, the SIR represents a systematic exercise in mass disenfranchisement, marked by arbitrary criteria such as “logical consistency” and the increasing reliance on algorithm-driven exclusions rather than transparent, field-based verification. Unlike earlier exercises, the voter was treated as a suspect and the burden to prove otherwise rested on them. We are here not going into the tremendous monetary loss, inconvenience, mental trauma and even deaths that this obnoxious exercise has led to.
The continued non-functioning of adjudicatory mechanisms even admitted by the ECI in the Supreme Court has effectively denied them any meaningful remedy. Equally troubling is the opacity of the entire exercise. Lists were released in non-analysable formats, preventing public scrutiny. Independent analyses, indicate that marginalised communities, particularly Muslims, women, and economically vulnerable sections, have been disproportionately impacted.
The removal of these voters from the list amounts to a denial of the right to vote guaranteed under Article 326 of the Indian Constitution. The right to vote is a core democratic right integral to equality and dignity. Its large-scale denial, particularly to marginalised sections, constitutes a serious assault on the precepts of the Constitution itself.
The CPI(M) reiterates its strong protest against this exclusionary exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India which has led to large scale disenfranchisement and denial of the constitutional right to vote. At any cost, the constitutional right to vote must be guaranteed by the ECI.
Thanking you,
M A Baby
(General Secretary)