Muslims form bulk of SIR ‘logical discrepancy’ in south Kolkata seats, says study

KOLKATA: A study of EC’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has found that Muslim voters form a disproportionately large share of those flagged under the “logical discrepancy” category in two politically significant assembly constituencies in south Kolkata, triggering fresh questions over the system-driven scrutiny process.

According to research by Sabar Institute, Muslims account for about 52% of voters marked with “logical discrepancies” in Bhowanipore, a central-south Kolkata constituency around the city’s traditional commercial and political hub, and nearly 78% in Ballygunge, an adjoining upscale residential area in south Kolkata.




In Bhowanipore, 7,846 of the 15,145 voters whose enumeration forms were flagged for “logical discrepancies” are Muslims, the study shows. In Ballygunge, 23,256 of the 30,008 voters in the same category belong to the minority community.


The skew stands out when compared with other categories of deletions or corrections. “In Bhowanipore, Muslims form only 22.7% of voters marked as ‘absent, shifted or dead/duplicate’ (ASD) and about 26% of unmapped voters,” said Ashin Chakraborty, who conducted the study with Souptik Halder and Sabir Ahamed. “Those figures broadly match the Muslim population share of around 20% in the constituency, as per the 2011 Census. But under ‘logical discrepancy’, the proportion jumps sharply to 52%.”

A similar pattern emerges in Ballygunge, where Muslims account for about 44% of ASD voters and 42% of unmapped voters, close to their estimated 50% population share in the constituency. EC officials rejected allegations of bias. An EC official said the electoral roll does not record religion and the commission maintains no religion-wise voter data.

Political reactions were sharp. Political analyst Udayan Bandyopadhyay alleged the artificial intelligence programme used for SIR had been “intentionally designed” to harass minority voters, particularly women. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh accused BJP of using voter list revisions to target Muslim-majority areas.

The findings add a new layer of controversy to the SIR exercise in Kolkata, with demands growing for an audit of the software-driven “logical discrepancy” filter to ensure the revision process does not disproportionately affect any community.