All my plans of participating in the voting process in the largest democracy in the world - well, at least in one of the states of the largest democracy in the world - came to a halt this week when I logged onto EC's website. I entered my EPIC - Electors Photo Identity Card, no relation to Op Epic Fury - number, which I've used since the last 25 years. But I was nowhere to be found. I had been wiped off the electoral rolls.

Could it be because I am 75% Baangal - Bengalis originally from East Bengal, now Bangladesh? Were the names of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, and self-anointed noblesse oblige Rajyasree Sen, finally going to be muttered with the same empathy and pathos?

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The reason behind this wiping out of my enfranchising existence and suffragatory history has to do with the fact that my voting state is West Bengal, which goes to the polls this month. And SIR is out in full force, weeding out 'Bangladeshi infiltrators'. So what if there's some collateral damage to people like me? Baangals - literally borderline Bengali Indians - must be ferreted out.

I was born in Calcutta. I finished my graduation in the city and worked there. My permanent residence has always been Calcutta/Kolkata. Eight years back, when I tried to change my permanent address on my voter ID to Delhi, I couldn't. Because it was too much for the election website to process without hanging multiple times. Then Covid struck. And now here I am.

That EC didn't even deem me worthy enough to deserve a 'Dear Jaya' letter. Or, in the age of Digital India, worthy of a WhatsApp, SMS, or email. It's heartbreaking. It's not that EC doesn't know where to reach me. They have my PAN and Aadhaar card, both linked to my phone number. But I'm assuming that we are trying to boost the efficacy of the near-extinct postal service and are only sending SIR notices by snail mail. And Kolkata being Kolkata, my SIR letter was probably thrown away when the postman came across a locked gate.

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Never have I looked for validation with as much fervour as I have looked for my name on past electoral rolls. The poll panel has uploaded electoral rolls from 2002. But I am nowhere to be found. I have scoured through roll after roll--and was happy to spot the petrol pump owners from next door. But not my name. Could it be that I trudged to the dingy, poorly ventilated Khanpur Girls School Room 4, every 5 years since the 2011 West Bengal assembly elections to cast my vote--only to be cast aside by SIR?

I even tried spelling permutations and combinations of my name. After all, even if my EPIC number wasn't picked up, my name should be. But EC website does have a disclaimer: 'Spelling of names may vary between last SIR details and current details in 2025, hence if you do not find output with exact name then try different variations of names. For example, for Maneesh also try Manish.' A name by any other name can still be that name. I did appreciate the use of 'hence'.

What hurts more is that never have I committed to a relationship more than the one I had with the electoral process. Even when I earned a pittance, I travelled to Kolkata from whichever state I was in, to cast my vote. I have stood in queues, in smelly, humid rooms, all in the hope of seeing the candidate I love win--and love me back. The electoral process has turned out to be an unappreciative lover.

But maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Now, instead of heralding change at the state level, I can herald change in Delhi, whenever I get a voter ID again. Vive la revolution! But only after I get a new voter ID registered. So, vive la resolution after a while.