Diplaced By Overflowing Ganges And Documents Lost, Malda's Char Residents Fear Losing Voting Rights In SIR
The people living on the chars of Malda hope their voices are heard by the concerned authorities.
Published : November 23, 2025 at 12:10 PM IST
Malda: Every year, when the monsoon rains come, the Ganges River overflows in Malda district in West Bengal. The water covers villages and forces people to leave their homes. The people living on the small river islands, called "chars," face a unique problem: they often lose their land and documents when the river changes course.
Many char residents are worried they might not be included as voters, as a special electoral roll revision is underway in the state. There are about 85 chars in Malda. People living there have lost their homes many times. Sometimes, the river’s shifting path puts them in West Bengal, sometimes in Bihar, and sometimes even in Jharkhand. Because of this, they do not have permanent addresses or documents to prove where they live.
This year, as the Special Intensive Revision of the voters list is underway in the state, many char residents are worried about losing their electoral franchise. For example, the Hamidpur char used to be in West Bengal in 1971. Then the Ganges swallowed it, and later it reappeared as a new char. The people living there were included in the Bengal voter list only in 2010, after years of being left out. Before that, they were voters in undivided Bihar, but now those records are lost.
According to Kedarnath Mandal, who leads the movement for river erosion victims, “Addresses here change again and again. Today we live on one car, but tomorrow it could be gone. Without a stable address, how can we prove we belong here?”
The government is using the 2002 voter list as a reference for the new revision. This worries many people, since their names might not be on that old list. Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal has promised that if someone’s name is on the voter list published in October 2025, they will not lose their right to vote—even if they are not on the 2002 list. He also said that everyone who received an enumeration form will get a chance to explain their situation and show any documents they still have.
But many people, like Shafiqul Islam from Hamidpur Char, have lost all their documents to the river. “We had land and houses, but the Ganges took everything. Now we don’t even have proof of where we live,” he says.
Khidir Baksh, secretary of the Ganga Erosion Prevention Citizens' Action Committee, said that the old voter lists from neighbouring Jharkhand might help some char residents prove their identity. Echoing the people’s concerns, state minister Sabina Yeasmin insisted that no one should be excluded. “All these people are residents of West Bengal. It is the government’s job to help them keep their voting rights,” she said.
“It is the responsibility of the commission to find the documents. None of them are Bangladeshis or Rohingyas. All are residents of West Bengal," she added. The people living on the chars of Malda hope their voices are heard by the concerned authorities.
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