KOLKATA: Major political parties in West Bengal have announced their candidates for the upcoming two-phase Assembly elections on April 23 and 29, even as around 60 lakh voters remain marked as “under adjudication,” raising serious questions over their participation in the electoral process.
The ruling Trinamool Congress has declared candidates for all 291 seats, while the opposition BJP has fielded nominees in 144 seats for the first phase. The CPM-led Left Front has so far announced 192 candidates, with the remaining expected shortly, while the Congress is yet to release its full list.
The presence of a large pool of voters under judicial scrutiny has emerged as a central issue in the election. These 60 lakh voters are awaiting verification of their documents following directions from the Supreme Court and have been kept out of the final electoral rolls for now. Around 20 lakh cases have been disposed of by judicial officers, but there is still no clear data on how many voters have been accepted or rejected.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the total number of eligible voters stands at 6.44 crore, down from 7.04 crore in the electoral rolls published after the SIR on February 28. The drop is due to the removal of more than 64 lakh names identified as dead, duplicate, shifted, or absent during the verification process.
The issue has triggered political reactions, with the Trinamool Congress, Left Front, and Congress urging the Election Commission of India to ensure that all genuine voters, including those under adjudication, are allowed to cast their votes. The BJP has not supported this demand and has instead defended the revision process.
The scale of the issue is particularly visible in several districts and could affect around 100 constituencies, especially in minority- and border-dominated regions like Murshidabad, Malda, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Nadia, Jalpaiguri, and East Bardhaman. In Murshidabad, which has 70% minority population and 20 Assembly constituencies, more than 11 lakh voters out of 54.7 lakh have been marked as under adjudication. In Malda, 8.28 lakh voters out of nearly 29.8 lakh fall in this category, while North 24-Parganas has over 5.91 lakh adjudicated voters out of 73.8 lakh electors.
The controversy has also affected candidates. The Trinamool has five MLAs and minister Sashi Panja, who have been marked as “under adjudication”. Among them are Zakir Hossain from Jangipur, Byron Biswas from Sagardighi, Razzak Sheikh from Jalangir, and Sahina Momtaz Khan from Nowda, all of whom have been renominated. Panja has been fielded from Shyampukur. In Dakshin Dinajpur, MLA Toraf Hossain Mandal from Kumarganj has also reported his name in the pending list, while BJP has fielded Kalita Majhi from Aousgram despite a similar status.
In Kumarganj, 30,000 voters are on the pending list. Mandal said he submitted pension papers and other documents during the hearing, but his name was still marked as pending, while members of his family remain on the electoral roll.