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Kolkata: Twenty-six-year-old Sahinura Begum resides in Part 34 of the Raiganj assembly constituency in Uttar Dinajpur. When the Election Commission of India (ECI) published its final electoral roll for West Bengal on February 28 this year, at the close of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), her name carried the words ‘Under Adjudication’.

Her file went to a judicial officer. On March 27, her name appeared in the second supplementary list, cleared and back on the roll. But at 1.43 pm on April 2, an appeal was registered. She did not file it. It was filed against her.

The record remains visible on the Election Commission voter service portal, where every citizen can log in and see their records and applications. Her appeal identity from April is APS25XXXXXXXX332, the digital form identifies the target. In the field labelled ‘Appeal Against EPIC No’ is Sahinura Begum’s voter identification number, starting with UXO157. The system log is brief. The first entry reads ‘Pending’. The second, stamped at 4.33 pm on April 18, finally brings relief. It reads ‘Included in E-roll’.

The tribunal ultimately refused to strike her name off the rolls. When the April 21 supplementary list was published following the April 13 Supreme Court directive, she appeared at serial 5XX. A footnote confirmed her name was already on the previously published roll.

Sahinura Begum was forced to prove her citizenship twice. The second ordeal was entirely manufactured by an anonymous actor who wanted the first clearance revoked. Six days separated her initial relief from the sudden appeal against her. Another 11 days passed between that appeal and the moment the appellate tribunals finally began........

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