Kolkata Resident Declared Dead in Voter List, Attends Hearing to Prove She's Alive
In a startling case of bureaucratic error, 49-year-old Bulbul Jaiswal found herself declared deceased in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) draft electoral roll. The Kolkata resident attended a hearing at the Survey Building on Sunday, emphatically stating to officials, "Sir, main abhi zinda hoon (Sir, I am still alive)." Her appearance aimed to correct the grave mistake that had shocked her family and community.
Shocking Discovery and Immediate Action
Bulbul Jaiswal, who resides on Sarat Bose Road under the Ballygunge assembly constituency, was born and raised in Howrah before moving to her current address after marrying Rajkumar Jaiswal in 1997. The alarming discovery occurred when her husband checked the draft electoral roll online and saw her name listed among dead voters. "We were in shock when my husband saw my name on the dead voter list while checking the draft roll on the computer," Bulbul recounted. "The entire locality thought I was dead, only to find me very much alive and kicking."
Following this revelation, Bulbul was contacted by her Booth Level Officer (BLO) on February 6 and instructed to appear before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) for verification. She filled out Form 6, which is designated for fresh inclusion in the electoral roll, and gathered numerous identity documents including her passport, Aadhaar card, PAN card, and marriage certificate.
Documentary Evidence and Family Efforts
Armed with every possible proof of identity, Bulbul stood patiently in queue at room number 159 of the Survey Building, waiting for her turn to demonstrate her existence. Meanwhile, her husband Rajkumar worked tirelessly to collect all necessary documents to ensure his wife's name would appear in the final electoral roll. "All our efforts are now to get her name in the list," Rajkumar explained. "My family moved to Bengal in 1942. I have a business here. It is absolute harassment that a living person was declared dead due to their mistake. We spent hours to ensure their mistake is corrected."
Rajkumar noted that this wasn't an isolated incident, pointing out that another neighbor's wife had similarly been erroneously declared dead in the voter list.
Broader Context of Electoral Roll Revision
The first electoral draft roll was published in December, resulting in approximately 58 lakh voters being deleted under categories including death, permanent address shifts, or being untraceable. Additionally, around 1.4 crore voters were flagged under logical discrepancy categories and issued hearing notices. Although the official hearing deadline concluded on February 7, long queues persisted at the Survey Building for fresh inclusions.
Most people in these queues were attending Form 6 hearings for new voter registrations. Among them was Sapan Maity, whose name appeared in the 2002 voter list but was deleted due to what he described as a "technical fault." Like many others, he expressed frustration at being summoned on a weekend and criticized the system's implementation.
Constituency-Specific Deletion Figures
A significant portion of those waiting hailed from either the Ballygunge or Chowringhee constituencies, both of which experienced high numbers of ASD (absentee, shifted, dead) voter deletions:
- Jorasankho constituency recorded 72,899 ASD deletions (36.8% of voters)
- Chowringhee constituency saw 74,510 ASD deletions (35.4% of voters)
- Ballygunge constituency had 65,165 ASD deletions (25.5% of voters)
Residents voiced their discontent with the sudden implementation of the SIR process. "If you were going to conduct SIR in 2025, you should have planned beforehand," complained one Ballygunge resident. "This sudden implementation is causing unnecessary trouble." The scramble for documents, photocopies, and acknowledgment slips from BLOs created an atmosphere of impatience and highlighted concerns about faulty system execution.
Bulbul Jaiswal's case underscores the human impact of administrative errors in electoral processes, demonstrating how such mistakes can disrupt lives and necessitate considerable effort from citizens to rectify bureaucratic oversights.
