'Bangla Pokkho' launches fast unto death in Malda over deletion of names of voters during SIR

Malda, West Bengal: Members of pro-Bengal advocacy outfit 'Bangla Pokkho' on Monday launched a fast-unto-death in Malda district demanding that the names of all those voters deleted during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls must be included in the supplementary list.

District committee member of Bangla Pokkho, Ikbal Malik, said the protest began after a delegation of the organisation submitted a deputation to the BDO office in Sujapur, alleging that a significant number of Bengali citizens had been excluded from the voter list in the district under the SIR process.

Those participating in the indefinite fast include Sahin Badsha, district secretary of Bangla Pokkho in Malda, district committee member Ikbal Malik, and activists Ashraful Hoque, Uttam Mandal, Sohel Selim and Md Rafik Ahmed.

A central leadership team of the organisation, led by Bangla Pokkho general secretary Garga Chatterjee, is on its way to Malda, a spokesperson of the outfit said.

Chatterjee earlier alleged that the voter list revision process was being "misused to disenfranchise Bengali-speaking citizens" and warned of a larger statewide movement if the issue was not addressed immediately.

"We are witnessing systematic deletion of genuine voters in districts like Malda. This is an attack on the democratic rights of Bengalis. If the Election Commission does not intervene, Bangla Pokkho will intensify its stir across West Bengal," he said.

Malik said the decision to begin a fast-unto-death was "not pre-planned" but reflected "deep anger and frustration among local youths over repeated complaints going unheard".

The Malda district police have deployed personnel in the area and are closely monitoring the situation to prevent any untoward incident.