IDENTITY CRISIS ON THE CARDS

The shadows of an impending SIR sweep across Bengal, panicked voters rush to clean up eligibility documents

- Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

IT'S LIKE A DOSE OF THE FEAR HORMONE being shot through the veins of Bengal-a vague but sharp sense that something larger, and potentially disruptive, is about to unfold. Bivash Patra, a thirtysomething in Nazat, North 24 Parganas, epitomises it. Like a man possessed, he's shuttling between dowdy government office counters. His Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) spells his name as Bibhas instead of Bivash.

This is no longer a routine matter: such slips, dime a dozen in Indian documentation, could now determine whether he’s ‘in’ or ‘out'.

If cause and effect are the same across the polity, the Election Commission's Form 8 is both key and lock for the afflicted. Armed with this mandated document for corrections, Patra approached the local BDO, only to be told his year of birth was mismatched. His school-leaving certificate records it as 1989, his Aadhaar says 1986. “My father was a mason and didn't know how to get me a birth certificate,” says a dejected Patra, as he leaves the office with his wife and toddler. “During my school admission, he simply guessed 1989. Why Aadhaar says 1986, I have no idea. Now the hassle is mine.”

THE REVISION RUSH