86-year-old ex-army personnel disheartened as marked "dead" on Silchar voters' list

Silchar, May 5: 86-year-old Niresh Ranjan Bhattacharjee, a retired Indian Army personnel and a resident of Pushpa Vihar Lane in Meherpur area here had gone to the Bipalabi Ullaskar Vidya Bhawan voting centre on April 26 to cast his vote in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections. 

But to his utter dismay and awe, as he took out his EPIC card, officials expressed curiosity as they discovered his name had been marked as 'expired' in the voter list, preventing him from voting.

A visibly upset Bhattacharjee approached the presiding officer to know the reason behind such an outcome in the voters’ list, who replied to him that the list was prepared and corrected as per the report of the BLO. The BLO, who was called on to report at the centre, looked perplexed to see the retired Army veteran at the voting centre and murmured, “I had joined very recently. The reports were compiled by the former BLO.”

Soon after, Bhattacharjee, who said that he had fought two Indo-Pak wars, looked further embarrassed and sought a written response from the presiding officer on the reason of him being denied the right to vote. The official, in his reply stated, “Niresh Ranjan Bhattacharjee, is not allowed to cast vote today on 26/04/2024 because his name is already deleted from the voter list. Hence, I am unable to allow him to cast vote for this reason,” with a note that read: E723.

Bhattacharjee, helped by his sons Nirmal and Nilotpal, wasted no time to lodge a complaint on the designated online site with the Election Commission of India, to which he was asked to visit the local election office. “I had joined the Indian Army in 1955 in the Signal Wing of the force. I volunteered to retire in 1965 but was again called back during the 1971 war. I am disappointed at the dismal state of affairs and worried as well. Will this impact on my pension,” Bhattacharjee quipped.

Meanwhile, his sons informed that officials from the election cell had visited their residence to collect necessary documents and assured that soon after the election procedure is over, the matter would be resolved. When contacted, the District Election Officer cum District Commissioner Rohan Kumar Jha, while talking to The Assam Tribune said,” I have taken note of the matter and will look into it.”