- By Soumyaroop Mukherjee
- Mon, 10 Nov 2025 06:52 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Minority organisations, mosque committees and senior clerics in West Bengal have launched a state-wide campaign to help Muslims of the state to fill enumeration forms for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. The initiative comes amid growing anxiety and confusion among Muslims about possible exclusion ahead of the 2026 Bengal Assembly elections.
According to Jagran.com, Imams have begun issuing public appeals from around 40,000 mosques in muslim-majority areas of the state to maintain peace, fill the SIR forms carefully and not panic. Additionally, many outreach programs have been undertaken by various social groups, educating the people about SIR.
Imam-e-Din Kazi Fazlur Rahman, who leads the annual namaz on Red Road in Kolkata, said religious leaders are playing an active role in guiding citizens.
State-Wide Campaign By Minority Groups
Maulana Shafiq Qasmi, the Imam of Nakhoda Mosque in Kolkata, said that major mosques of the state have started holding daily training sessions outside prayer and setting up designated help desks to guide people about the SIR process.
Parallel to this, the Bengal unit of Jamat Ulema-e-Hind, led by Minority Affairs Minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury, has launched a simultaneous awareness campaign using its vast network of followers. The organisation has 16 lakh members in 625 units in 22 districts, along with 1,100 madrasas, having 1.65 lakh students and 25,000 teachers. Additionally, General Secretary Mohammad Kamruzzaman said that about 500 camps are being held daily in Muslim-majority areas to clear up confusion.
West Bengal has the largest muslim voter base in India after Jammu and Kashmir and Assam. Minorities constitute about 30 per cent of the state's electorate and influence about 100 of the 294 assembly seats.
The Trinamool government has alleged that so far 17 people have died due to fear and anxiety over the possibility of their names being excluded from the voters’ list during the SIR process. The BJP has dismissed these claims as a ‘fabricated drama’