300 Sribhumi voters find names missing from poll rolls

Silchar: Following the gram panchayat boundary delimitation recently, 300 voters from Medal-Sharifnagar GP in Sribhumi district have found their names missing from the electoral rolls.

"Despite having exercised our voting rights for many years, we have been disenfranchised this time around. The entire village is fuming with anger at this surprising development. We understand that our democratic rights have been taken away due to administrative negligence," said Hossain Ahmed Choudhury, a resident of the gram panchayat area who is also unable to find his name in the updated voters' list.

The affected residents informed the media on Tuesday that their names were previously listed in the electoral roll for West Medal Group No. 1 under the Pirerchak GP within the South Karimganj assembly constituency. Following the recent panchayat boundary reorganisation, their area was transferred to Medal-Sharifnagar GP. Although initially included in Medal-Sharifnagar Group No. 3 in the draft electoral roll, their names are absent from the final published list.

"The names are not found in any of the ten groups of the gram panchayat. This is not only an administrative failure, but also a violation of our democratic rights. It appears that we will not be able to exercise our voting rights in the panchayat election slated for May 2. This cannot be accepted," said Maqbul Ali, another villager.

The affected residents have requested immediate intervention from the state election commission and the Sribhumi district commissioner to ensure their inclusion in the Medal-Sharifnagar GP electoral roll, thereby safeguarding their voting rights.