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Kolkata/Raninagar (Bengal): Till before Budhurpur, the earth is solid, but once you enter the village located in the Raninagar assembly constituency of Bengal’s Murshidabad district, the soil dissolves into shifting, sandy stretches. The river Padma here, carves both geography and destiny. Houses stand on uncertain ground, fields are shortened and lengthened depending on the river’s moods, and almost every family has a member working in the southern states, sending money back home.

Here, on this fragile edge called Raninagar char – land made by silt deposited by the river – stands a one-storey pucca house belonging to farmer Prafulla Das. Directly in front of it is the home of his neighbour, Kamidul Hossain.

For years, there was nothing to distinguish the two households. Now, a line has been drawn, not on the land, but on paper.

In the final electoral rolls published by the Election Commission of India (ECI), the names of Prafulla Das and his entire family remain intact. Every voter in Kamidul Hossain’s family has been marked “under adjudication.”

Das does not step outside when called. From inside his home, his voice carries a mix of hesitation and discomfort. “What has started in the SIR [special intensive revision] in the name of religion has made me ashamed to face my neighbours,” he says. “They have lived here much longer than I have. In times of danger, they stood by us like family. Now this has brought division among us. I feel guilty.”

That quiet discomfort in one house, and the anxiety in the other, is not an isolated instance in the Raninagar assembly constituency. 

Out of roughly 261,292 voters, nearly 92,796 or over 35.5% have been marked under consideration in this seat. This is a migrant-heavy region. Most families have two or three members working outside the state, and that reality has only heightened the sense of vulnerability. The pattern that emerges has unsettled residents the most. 

Move along the Padma char belt, across a cluster of booths, and the contrast becomes difficult to ignore.

In booths 154 to 157,........

© The Wire