More than 2.5 lakh migrant workers from West Bengal currently staying in Bengaluru are racing against time to return to their native places for hearings under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, as train tickets are fully booked and air fares remain prohibitively high.
This situation is unprecedented, as earlier the state had witnessed special trains being run to manage festive rushes and to facilitate students travelling to south India for competitive examinations and higher studies.
Recently, following directives from the Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India uploaded a list of around 1.5 crore voters in West Bengal under the ‘unmapped’ (30 lakh) and ‘logical discrepancy’ (1.20 crore) categories for hearings.
Although the Commission has repeatedly stated at various forums that voters who fail to appear on the scheduled date due to valid reasons will be given another opportunity, it has also permitted authorised representatives to attend the hearing on behalf of voters, provided all valid and authorised documents are produced.
The Karnataka Bengali Kalyan Samity and Nep India Foundation have sought the introduction of special trains to enable these 2.5 lakh migrant workers to attend their hearings without difficulty. They alleged that long-distance trains remain fully booked till March, while air fares from Bengaluru to Kolkata and Siliguri are beyond the reach of poor migrant labourers. Around 9,400 migrant workers have already left Bengaluru to attend the hearings.
Average air fare from Bengaluru to Kolkata is around Rs 10,000, while the fare to Bagdogra is approximately Rs 12,000, said Travel Agents Association of India chairman east, Anjani Kumar Dhanuka.
Meanwhile, in Birbhum district, there has been at least one instance of a voter appearing for a hearing via video call at Suri-1 block a few days ago.
Shubham Mishra of Suri in Birbhum district, a research scholar in computer science at the University of Berkeley, California, received a notice for SIR from the Election Commission. Despite possessing a voter card since 1995, his name was not found in the 2002 electoral roll. His father, Prashanta Mishra alias Raju, a Trinamul Congress leader, had already appeared thrice on his behalf. Most recently, Shubham spoke to the central observer Joydeep Sethi over a video call from the USA, although there is no provision in the ECI guidelines for appearing through videoconferencing.
Hasnat Ali, BDO of Suri-1 block, said that an authorisation mail was sought from Shubham, and he spoke to officials over a video call using his father’s phone. “There is no provision for appearing through video calls,” he added.
Migrant labourers from north Bengal districts are facing the maximum difficulty, as long-distance trains are limited in number or operate weekly. The journey from Bengaluru to New Jalpaiguri Junction takes around 45 hours, and tickets on most trains remain booked till March, further aggravating the situation.
For migrant workers from South Bengal, there are around ten weekly trains from Bengaluru to Howrah. However, these trains also have no unreserved seats available. As a result, costly air travel remains the only option ~ often amounting to more than one or two months’ salary, the workers claimed. Moreover, after attending the hearings, they must again purchase tickets for the return journey to rejoin work at the earliest.
The migrant workers are now attempting to contact Samirul Islam, Rajya Sabha MP and chairman of the West Bengal Parijayi Shramik Kalyan Parishad, seeking the arrangement of special trains, as the closing dates of the marathon SIR exercise in West Bengal are approaching rapidly. Many of these workers have been employed in various sectors in Bengaluru for over a decade.