War on Bengal: A Critical Update

[Sukla Sen]

<https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/congress-candidate-becomes-bengals-first-deleted-voter-to-get-rights-restored-by-sir-tribunal-prnt/cid/2154745>

The above report graphically brings out, even to those who keep their eyes deliberately closed, what a monstrous criminal fraud the SIR actually is.

And Bengal -- it's as clear as daylight -- is a very special target! 

(The number of state officials summarily removed from their posts by the ECI is reportedly 21 times the number for all the four other states combined! Similarly, some 2.5 lakh members of central paramilitary forces are being brought in to ensure "free and fair" polling! It's more than double the number that we had during the preceding assembly poll. The numbers for the other states must be just a small fraction.

Virtually being treated as an occupied enemy territory -- for the purpose of installing a puppet regime?)

In Bihar, the first state where the SIR had its (sort of) trial run, there was no category like "logical discrepancies".

For the second phase, this new category was manufactured. Even then, in the states other than Bengal, these cases were understandably rather few. For Bengal, the number was too huge. And thus arose a still new category: "under adjudication". Unique to Bengal. Some 60.06 lakh fell under this category. No numbers have been divulged yet as regards rejection/acceptance -- post-"adjudication". It's, however, "leaked" (or hinted?) that out of those "adjudicated" some 27 lakh+ may eventually stand rejected. For some "discrepancies" in name-spellings or such obviously silly grounds that should have nothing to do with determination of eligibility to vote.

Quite visibly, a massive state-organised pre-poll rigging exercise.

And the Supreme Court with a straight face observed what's the big deal if one cannot vote in one election? The voting right is not going to be extinguished forever!

In fact the CJI himself commented that while others are hardly making any noise, only Bengal is creating all the trouble -- virtually echoing the noise emanating from the saffron camp. Pretty much overlooking the fact that Kerala assembly had passed a resolution against SIR. Tamil Nadu and Kerala, other than Supreme Court have approached the Supreme Court against SIR.

Evidently, given the chaos (it has now come to light that the octogenarian grandson and granddaughter-in-law of the illustrator of the Indian Constitution, the legendary artist Nandalal Bose stand dropped from the final voter list!), the most sensible approach would have been to ask the ECI to conduct the coming poll on the basis of the last (rather recent) electoral roll and conclude the SIR exercise only after duly settling all the complaints and objections in a fair and transparent manner -- within a reasonable timeframe.

And, now, the latest!

The impeachment motions against the CEC in both the houses of the parliament submitted on March 12 2026 -- signed by as many as 193 Opposition MPs (63 in Rajya Sabha, 130 in Lok Sabha) -- as per the laid down procedure stand rejected by the respective presiding officers (from the BJP of course) -- without indicating any ground!

Is this the height!?

Of course, the motions would have not been carried -- given the arithmetic. But, the grossly criminal wrongdoings of the ECI would have received some glare of publicity. Despite the godi media. That's why.

And, to be sure, that's not all.

I. The war on Bengal is, in fact, only a part -- albeit critical -- of the larger war, very much underway, on "India". And Bengal -- Rammohan Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhash Chandra Bose and scores and scores of other freedom fighters and intellect workers -- lest we forget, had played a very major role in conjuring up an "India" out of highly diverse communities living in contiguity inhabiting a fairly vast stretch of territory bound by seas and a high mountain range.

II. Even more alarmingly, closely behind this massive exercise in disenfranchisement, lurks the monstrous threat of the NRC followed by stripping of citizenship and, maybe, detention camps -- as has already happened in Assam (on a trial scale?).

That would be the final nail in the coffin of "India" -- embodying the ideal of egalitarian pluralism?

<<Mehtab is the first deleted Bengal voter cleared by a tribunal. None of the 19 tribunals has heard a single case except his so far, apparently because of “infrastructural issues”.

Mehtab’s circumstances as Congress nominee and wealthy contractor had allowed him to move the Supreme Court on April 2 and secure a directive to the tribunal to decide his case promptly, and to the Election Commission to cooperate fully.

Others may not be so fortunate, or privileged.

Poll panel sources said the judicial officers had decided 58 lakh among the 60.06 lakh “under adjudication” cases, and the rest would be done by Monday, April 6. They cited a 42 per cent rejection rate, which indicates about 25 lakh deletions.

April 6 is the last day for filing nominations for the first-phase seats, and April 9 for the second-phase seats. These are also the last dates for voter inclusion in the rolls for the respective phases.

...

Cleared by the tribunal, Mehtab can finally file his nomination on Monday — deadline day for his first-phase constituency.

“However, it remains uncertain whether the tribunals would be able to hear and dispose of all the appeals within whatever time is left, as they are yet to function fully,” a poll panel source said.

“Mehtab Sheikh’s case is an exception, having been heard following specific directions from the Supreme Court.”

Those deleted have 15 days to approach the tribunals. Filing the appeals is a complicated process. While no official figures are available, sources said tens of thousands of appeals had already been filed physically and online.

Mehtab had been issued a “logical discrepancy” notice because his father’s name on his documents didn’t match that on the benchmark 2002 rolls. At the scrutiny, he had furnished multiple documents that spelled his father’s name correctly.

But the preliminary “final” rolls of February 28 marked Mehtab “deleted”.>>

[This present note is fifth in the series.

Here is the preceding one: <https://groups.google.com/g/greenyouth/c/gvpuzCJ1cJo>.]

Peace Is Doable