‘How can we rush back like this’: Mumbai to Kochi, workers from Bengal worry over SIR

It’s a fear shared among West Bengal migrants across India. As the electoral rolls revision gets underway in the state ahead of next year’s Assembly polls, migrant workers from West Bengal are scrambling to find documents and head back home in time for the enumeration. While there is now an option to fill the form online, many are unsure how to go about it or say that they need to head back home to get their documents in order.

On October 27, the Election Commission announced the schedule for SIR in 12 states and Union Territories, including West Bengal. It said the process of submitting enumeration forms would take place between November 4 and December 4, after which draft electoral rolls would be published on December 9. Subsequently, claims and objections can be submitted until January 8, 2026, and the final rolls will be published on February 7.

Amid the rush is a difficult choice for migrant workers — head back home and risk losing wages, or stay behind and risk being left out of the voter list.

It’s a choice that 22-year-old Habeebulla Biswas, a construction worker in Kerala’s Kochi, knows he must make. A resident of Murshidabad, he just returned to Kerala after Durga Puja celebrations, but must now prepare to go back home.

“We need at least six months to submit,” says a hassled Biswas. “I don’t have the money to make another trip back home. Heavy rain had stalled construction in Kerala and work has just started to get regular. My parents told me forms have reached, but we can’t just rush back home.”

In Bengaluru, 58-year-old carpenter Shaikh Shahzada waits at a train station to board a train to Kolkata with his daughter. The SIR is one of the major reasons for his return.

“Party people will help us enrol on the electoral roll,” he says, without mentioning which party. He adds, “We have been voters in Kolkata for over 80 years, but there are fears of mischief this time to keep people out of the voter list.”

In Mumbai’s Malad, 35-year-old Masibur Mallick wonders if the SIR exercise requires his presence. Originally from West Bengal’s Uluberia district, Mallick, a construction worker, lives in Mumbai with his wife Manuja and three minor daughters, and heading back home at such short notice would be an expensive affair.

“If I go now, my employers will cut my daily wage and I am the only earning member in my family. My oldest daughter is specially abled, and travelling at such short notice would be difficult. We’ve sent photos of our documents to our relatives and will go depending on what they have to say,” Masibur said.

The possibility of heading back home to Hooghly has also caused panic in the house of Tarifa in Malad’s Malvani.

“If there’s an issue and we’re called, we’ll have no choice but to go. But how will we? My husband, who is a labourer, is the sole breadwinner of our family of five. We’ve barely enough money to make ends meet,” she says in panic.

In Gujarat’s jewellery units, workers’ associations have held meetings on how to help workers.

“We’ve spoken to BLOs about the procedure. Workers don’t need to go back to West Bengal for the SIR. BLOs only need documents and photographs, which their relatives can provide,” says Aloknath Shaw, who owns a jewellery manufacturing unit in Rajkot and is the president of the Rajkot Bengal Young Star Group.

In Ahmedabad’s gold marker, Abdul Rauf Yakub Shaikh, president of the Samast Bengali Samaj Association, has also held such meetings. “We decided that those who need to go and get it done, should go. But those who want to settle down in Gujarat, can deposit their old Voter IDs and have new ones made in Gujarat itself,” he says.

Amid the panic, there’s also confusion. In Mumbai’s Ambujwadi, 53-year-old Amal Biswas is puzzled why his wife has been called back for the exercise when his family are no longer registered voters in Thakurnagar in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas.

“I’ve been living in Mumbai since 2002 and all my documents — Aadhaar and ration card — have my Mumbai address. We’re registered voters here. So, I’m confused why my wife, whose documents also have the Mumbai address, has been asked to submit documents,” he says.