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Minority groups, Imams launch outreach drive to help Muslims file SIR forms in Bengal
Muslim groups and religious leaders across West Bengal are actively helping people fill out electoral forms. This initiative aims to ease confusion and prevent harassment as the state prepares for the 2026 assembly elections. Efforts are underway to ensure all eligible voters are correctly registered. Concerns remain about the process and potential difficulties for vulnerable families.
Minority organisations, mosque committees and senior clerics across West Bengal have launched a statewide mobilisation drive to assist Muslims in filing enumeration forms for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, as concerns over possible harassment and confusion grow among them ahead of the 2026 assembly polls.
Imams and social groups have started issuing public appeals not only from nearly 40,000 mosques but also through outreach programmes in Muslim-majority areas across the state, urging residents to remain calm, fill up SIR forms carefully and avoid panic.
Qazi Fazlur Rehman, the Imam-eh-din who leads the annual Red Road prayers in Kolkata, told PTI that religious leaders were playing a proactive role in guiding citizens.
"Imams have a duty beyond the pulpit. We are telling people not to panic and guiding them through the SIR process. Mosque committees are helping citizens fill up forms correctly because awareness is needed to help people overcome fear and confusion," he said.
The SIR, which began on November 4, involves over 80,000 booth-level officers (BLOs) visiting homes to distribute forms and verify documents. The month-long exercise will continue till December 4, with draft rolls to be published on December 9.
Claims and objections can be filed till January 8, followed by hearings till January 31, before the final rolls are released on February 7 next year, ahead of the state high-stakes election.
A warning came from Maulana Shafique Qasmi, Imam of Kolkata's Nakhoda Masjid, who said that conducting SIR for nearly 10 crore people in such a compressed timeline "may not be possible" and could lead to harassment.
"This will turn into harassment, sir. The government is meant to help people, not trouble them," Qasmi said.
He said poor and marginalised families, particularly those without organised records, have already been under stress.
The Nakhoda Masjid and several other major mosques have begun holding daily training sessions outside prayer halls and conducting help desks to guide people through the SIR process, Qasmi said.
Asserting that deaths and migration over the past decade had complicated verification, he proposes that the Election Commission should issue "life certificates confirming that an individual is alive".
Qasmi claimed that distress linked to the verification exercise had already resulted in several deaths.
Parallel to clerical initiatives, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind's Bengal unit, led by Minority Affairs Minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury, has launched a massive awareness drive using its network of 16 lakh members, 625 units in 22 districts, 1,100 madrasas, 1.65 lakh students and 25,000 teachers.
"With this entire setup, we are carrying out this programme. About 200 camps are running, and more are being added regularly," he said.
The aim is to help people avoid errors while filling up election-related documents and ensure that forms are not duplicated or overwritten, he said.
Chowdhury insisted that the campaign was non-political.
"TMC, which is running camps of its own, has given me responsibility only for my assembly constituency. I have no other responsibility from the party," he said when asked about Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind's efforts overlapping with TMC programmes.
He also expressed concern about the functioning of BLOs, claiming that "I am noticing that they are not doing proper mapping. They are not specifying where they will go".
Jamiat has also come up with a WhatsApp coordination group, district-level control rooms, and a team of dedicated advocates across 22 districts to help with documentation.
The All Bengal Minority Youth Federation, one of the largest organisations in the community, has also swung into action. Its general secretary Mohammed Kamruzzaman said daily around 500 camps were being held in Muslim-majority areas to clarify confusion.
"Mainly, many people are getting confused while filling up the SIR forms. For elderly women without husbands or sons, who will be the guardian? These are real concerns," he said.
He said camps were drawing anywhere between 100 and 5,000 people, depending on the area. "We are reassuring people that if they have their documents, their voting rights are safe."
Camps are mostly being held outside mosques, especially on Fridays.
West Bengal has one of the largest Muslim electorates in India after Jammu & Kashmir and Assam. Minorities constitute around 30 per cent of the state's voters, influencing nearly 100 of the 294 Assembly seats, particularly in Murshidabad, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, Howrah, Birbhum, Raiganj and parts of Purba Medinipur.
With the SIR going on under the gaze of both the ruling TMC and the challenger BJP, the exercise has turned into one of the most politically sensitive pre-election processes in recent years, and minority organisations have emerged as its most visible grassroots responders.
The TMC has alleged that 17 people have died from fear and anxiety over possible exclusion from the voters' list after the SIR process, while the BJP has dismissed the claims as "manufactured melodrama".
Statements by some BJP leaders suggesting that 1.2 crore names, including those of Bangladeshi infiltrators and Rohingya Muslims, may be removed have added to the unease. Minority leaders say the fear stems from memories of past documentation drives and the possibility of administrative overreach.
"People feel they are being targeted on the basis of religion, but minorities do have their documents," Kamruzzaman said.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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