Kolkata man ‘shifted’ to Bihar voter list after deletion in Bengal, alleges electoral lapse & conspiracy

A 45-year-old resident of Beleghata has alleged a shocking discrepancy in the electoral rolls after discovering that his name was deleted from West Bengal’s voter list and subsequently appeared in Bihar’s database despite never having visited the state.

Krishnendu Mukherjee, a Kolkata-born resident, now finds himself in a bureaucratic limbo ahead of the elections, unsure whether he will be able to exercise his fundamental right to vote for West Bengal Elections 2026. 

Mukherjee, who lives in a modest, nearly 70-year-old family home in a cluster in Beleghata, comes from a lineage firmly rooted in the city. His parents - Anjana Mukherjee and the late Gopal Mukherjee - were both listed as voters in Bengal as far back as 2002. His father passed away in 2015, but the family’s electoral records have remained consistent over decades.
“I was born here, raised here. My entire family is here. If this doesn’t make me a valid voter of Bengal, then what does?” Mukherjee said, visibly distressed.
According to him, the issue began unfolding despite him following due process. He submitted his enumeration form like other residents during the revision exercise. His details were successfully mapped with previous electoral rolls, and his name appeared in the draft list published in December 2025. Previously Election Commission of India (ECI) had only asked for mapping via 2002 data base for scrutiny. And Mukherjee had cleared that test. 

However, things took an unexpected turn soon after. “Suddenly, I was marked under ‘logical discrepancy’ and placed under adjudication. No one explained why,” he said. He alleged that he was never called for any hearing. “I had gone voluntarily and tried submitting my documents but the officials never accepted them”, he added. “Then, when the first supplementary list came out, my name had simply vanished.”

What has deepened the mystery and alarm is what followed next. While consulting a lawyer to file an appeal before the tribunal, Mukherjee’s EPIC (Elector Photo Identity Card) number was checked on the Election Commission’s website. The result was startling: his voter ID had been updated in Bihar. “Search your name in 2003 Bihar electoral Roll database”, is what the ECI website now prompts when you try to check his EPIC number on the portal. 

“The same EPIC number is now showing up in Bihar’s voter database. I have never been to Bihar in my life. I have no relatives, no property, no connection there whatsoever. Then how did my identity travel across states?” he asked.
Mukherjee alleges that the sequence of deletion in Bengal followed by inclusion in Bihar points to a serious lapse, if not something more systemic. “This is not just an error. This is a complete mockery of democracy. My fundamental right is being throttled,” he said, squarely blaming the Election Commission for the situation. Adding to the confusion is the fact that other members of his family, who submitted similar documents, remain unaffected. His mother and sister, using the same set of credentials, continue to be listed as valid voters in the Bengal rolls.

“That is what makes it even more bizarre. If there was an issue with documents or eligibility, why am I the only one singled out?” Mukherjee questioned. Legal experts say such cases, while rare, raise serious concerns about data integrity and verification processes within electoral systems, especially during large-scale revision exercises. Mukherjee has now initiated the process to challenge his deletion before the appropriate tribunal, but time is not on his side. With elections approaching, he fears he may be disenfranchised.

“I have voted all my life. This time, I may be forced to sit at home while others decide the future. That thought is unbearable,” he said. For now, Mukherjee waits, caught between two states on paper, but belonging fully to one in reality - hoping the system corrects what he calls a “dangerous and humiliating error” before it’s too late.