Congress Farakka candidate wins election after name removed during SIR
New Delhi: An interesting case related to the Special Intensive Revision and Assembly elections has taken place in West Bengal’s Farakka constituency. A congressional candidate who was removed from the electoral roll during the SIR fought to win back his voting rights and later conquered the constituency.Congress candidate Motab Shaikh won the Farakka assembly seat in Murshidabad district after successfully having his eligibility reinstated through a Supreme Court-mandated court process.Sheikh polled 8,193 votes, defeating the BJP’s Sunil Chowdhury, who polled 63,050 votes, Chowdhury polled 54,857 votes, while Trinamool Congress candidate Amirul Islam came third with 47,256 votes.The victory marked a major turnaround for the Congress party, which also won the Rani Nagar seat, overcoming the setback of failing to secure a single seat in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.Sheikh’s victory is noteworthy because his name did not initially appear on the electoral roll following the SIR exercise. He challenged the expungement to the Court of Appeal, one of 19 bodies. Supreme CourtInstructions for review of such cases. A court restored his voting rights shortly before the nomination deadline, allowing him to run.In Sheikh’s case, Calcutta High Court advocate Firdous Samim personally appeared at Bichar Bhawan and submitted the necessary documents to get his name back on the roll.Former Justice TS Sivagnanam, while referring to the Supreme Court order of September 8, 2025, stated that Aadhar card can be accepted as a supporting document. While it is not proof of citizenship, it is “one of the documents enumerated for the purpose of establishing a person’s identity.”The Congress also scored a victory in the neighboring Rani Nagar constituency, with its candidate Julfikar Ali defeating Trinamul’s Sumik Hussain by 2,701 votes, marking a modest but symbolic revival of the party in the state.
