Public welfare schemes are meant for all eligible citizens and not just those whose names appear on electoral rolls, says AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi
KOLKATA — Those left out of West Bengal’s electoral process due to the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) now face a double blow: the state is moving to deactivate their ration cards as well.
The government has recently started a verification drive to review the eligibility of beneficiaries under the Public Distribution System (PDS), using data generated during the revision of the electoral rolls.
Under the exercise, ration cards belonging to those who were removed from the voter list will be marked inactive, according to an order issued by the Food and Supplies Department on Thursday.
The move will directly and adversely affect those who were excluded from the draft electoral rolls after being classified as deceased, duplicate entries, those who had shifted residences, or individuals found absent during the verification process. Those whose names were subsequently deleted through supplementary electoral lists will also lose eligibility for subsidised food grains under the PDS.
The department further clarified that individuals identified as “unmapped voters” during the revision exercise and later excluded after hearings, as well as those removed from electoral rolls following adjudication, would no longer qualify for benefits under the scheme.
However, the government has provided relief to those whose cases are still under consideration. Those who have filed appeals before appellate tribunals or submitted applications under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will continue receiving ration benefits until their cases are finally decided.
Officials said the verification process is expected to be completed by June 15.
The decision has drawn severe criticism from opposition leaders and social media users.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) supremo and Lok Sabha member, Asaduddin Owaisi, questioned the government’s move to link welfare benefits with voter-list status, arguing that public welfare schemes are meant for all eligible citizens and not just those whose names appear on electoral rolls. He warned that the decision could disproportionately affect poor families, women, the Scheduled Castes and Muslims.
“Government schemes are not rewards for voters. They are meant for all eligible citizens,” Owaisi said.
Several social media users also questioned why access to ration and welfare benefits should depend on electoral registration, especially when thousands of appeals against voter-list exclusions are still pending. Others expressed concern that people could lose access to essential services before their cases are fully adjudicated.
Journalist Sowmya Ramesh wrote on X, “India’s new weapon of choice is not guns and bombs, it’s this piece of paper which decides if you are part of this country or not.” She added, “First they said only voting; now they link your food to vote.”
“Shame on CEC & CJI for enabling this. How many poor people are going to suffer because of this?” another social media user wrote,
The government’s move comes amid broader discussions about the impact of the electoral roll revision on access to welfare schemes. On May 27, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari stated that nearly 30 lakh beneficiaries of the state cash assistance programme for women could also lose eligibility after their names were removed from voter lists.
The special intensive revision exercise received judicial backing recently when the Supreme Court upheld its legality, observing that the process serves the constitutional objective of ensuring free and fair elections.
At the same time, the court clarified that the Election Commission’s scrutiny of voter eligibility should not be interpreted as a determination of citizenship. The bench emphasised that such inquiries are limited to electoral purposes and do not amount to a formal decision on a person’s citizenship status.
Around 91 lakh names, nearly 12 percent of the electorate in West Bengal, have been removed from the state’s voter rolls.
