EC Allows Document-Free Voter Enrolment for PVTGs in Bengal

 Members of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in West Bengal, including Birhor, Toto, Lodha Sabar and Kheria Sabar communities, will be enrolled in the electoral rolls without producing any documents during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) hearings, following a new directive of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Under the order, district magistrates (DMs) have been authorised to approve inclusion of eligible persons from these tribes even if their names did not figure in the 2002 voter list.

Acting on the directive, district administrations have sought block-wise lists of names and habitations from block development officers (BDOs).

The administration will also facilitate issuance of Scheduled Tribe certificates for members who do not possess them.

According to a senior district polling official, the voters from Birhor, Toto and Sabar communities would be enrolled without documents following DM approval.

“In Purulia, Aadhaar cards have largely been issued to Kheria Sabars. For Birhor and Sabar members who do not have caste certificates, the administration will complete that process,” he said.

However, the situation is not as bad in Alipurduar district. “The Commission has issued the directive. So far, we have not received cases of missing documents, but we are reviewing the matter,” another official said.

The revised electoral rolls will be published on February 14.

Birhor and Toto communities fall under the Centre’s PVTG category and are considered endangered. Birhors live mainly in three Purulia blocks — Balarampur, Baghmundi and Jhalda-I — and their population is estimated at around 300.

According to the 2024 Lok Sabha election data, 181 Birhors were above 18 years of age, and all of them were enrolled by the Purulia administration after an intensive outreach exercise.

The Toto tribe resides primarily in Totopara village in Alipurduar’s Madarihat block near the Bhutan border, with a few families scattered elsewhere. Their population is estimated at around 1,700.

Lodha Sabars and Kheria Sabars are also witnessing a population decline. Lodha Sabars live across seven blocks in Jhargram, 14 blocks in West Medinipur and one block in East Medinipur, with an estimated population of over one lakh.

Kheria Sabars are found only in Purulia, spread across 11 blocks. They have 3,127 families with a population of about 14,040, including 6,950 voters.

Prashanta Rakshit, head of the West Bengal Kheria Sabar Welfare Association, welcomed the decision. “If these indigenous communities are asked to prove their roots with documents, nothing could be more shameful. We are satisfied with the Commission’s decision,” he said.

The Sabar community was once branded “criminal by birth” under the British-era Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, which was repealed in 1952.

Despite decades of marginalisation, many families continue to live in forested and hilly regions, maintaining traditional ways of life — a reality the Commission appears to have taken into account in issuing the latest directive.