The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) electoral roll process in West Bengal has exposed deep, structural discrimination against queer* and trans people of Bengal. We, the undersigned members of the queer* and trans community, are alarmed at how the current SIR exercise has failed to safeguard our constitutional right to vote.

Recent data from the draft SIR rolls shows that a disproportionate number of persons listed under “other gender” — including many trans individuals — have been marked as untraceable or absent and removed from the electoral rolls, simply because they could not be located through the rigid SIR mechanisms. Roughly 250 individuals marked as "other gender" in Bengal have already fallen into this SIR gap and are at risk of losing their voting rights, a figure that starkly underscores the systemic barriers faced by our communities. 

For many of us, this exclusion is not accidental but predictable. Activists had previously made written representations to the Election Commission of India (ECI), urging inclusive processes that recognise the lived realities of queer and trans people — particularly those without stable family ties or formal documentation. Despite these representations, the reassurances offered by officials have come to naught, and there has been no meaningful change in policy that would prevent disenfranchisement.

A core flaw in the SIR process is its heavy reliance on traditional notions of address, parental linkage, and old documentation that many queer and trans people do not possess. Countless members of our community were forced to leave their natal homes due to social stigma or direct violence; in many instances, estranged families have destroyed or withheld our official documents, including birth certificates and other records, precisely because of family rejection. This vicious cycle of exclusion predates SIR, but the current process amplifies it and turns it into a threat to our political participation. 

Moreover, the requirement to appear at SIR hearings — often in locations close to the very homes we were driven away from — has deterred many from attending. For many trans and queer persons, returning physically to areas tied to past trauma and violence is not merely inconvenient, it is impossible. This reality has meant that significant numbers of eligible voters did not appear for hearings not out of disinterest, but out of fear and safety concerns.

The result is a process that systematically silences some of the most marginalised voices in our state and our democracy. It treats homelessness, family estrangement, and non-normative identities as technical deficiencies rather than as the consequences of precisely the social prejudices that any rights-based electoral system should seek to correct.

We call on the Election Commission of India to:

1. Ensure that all queer* and trans persons are included in the final electoral roll.

2. Provide safe, community-centred hearing mechanisms that do not require people to return to environments associated with past violence.

3. Publish transparent data on how many queer and trans voters are affected by the SIR process so that appropriate corrective measures can be implemented.

Our right to vote is fundamental. Exclusion from the voter rolls is not just bureaucratic oversight — it is social erasure. We demand our rights as voters and citizens of this country. 

Signed,:
Aparna Banerjee, Koyel Ghosh, Samata Biswas, Soham Basu