Wait for name in voter list, Kolkata cops said: Top journalist R Rajagopal's charge in passport row

Caught between a pending electoral appeal before the Appelate Tribunal and a stalled passport renewal, former The Telegraph editor R Rajagopal told IndiaToday.in he is in a "state of limbo" with no clarity on when either process will reach a conclusion.

In Short

• R Rajagopal's passport renewal delayed due to name removal from electoral rolls
• Rajagopal advised to wait until name restored in electoral rolls
• He remains in limbo with no clarity on passport or voter status

For former The Telegraph editor R Rajagopal, renewing his passport should not have been difficult. After all, it was the same Kolkata address from which his passport was first issued in 2005 and later renewed in 2015. But this time, it was not to be.

According to Rajagopal, his police verification was held up because his name no longer figures in West Bengal's electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

With his name struck off the voter list and his passport renewal still uncertain, both developments unfolding over the past four months, the veteran journalist told IndiaToday.in that he was in a "state of limbo."

His case has snowballed into a political controversy. The Congress, Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) have attacked the Centre, arguing that Rajagopal's experience reflects a wider erosion of citizens' rights.

PASSPORT RENEWAL HITS A ROADBLOCK

Speaking to IndiaToday.in, Rajagopal said the process began routinely after he completed his biometrics on March 19. The following day, his application was forwarded to Kolkata's Ballygunge Police Station for verification.

He monitored the application through Passport Seva and waited for the police verification to be completed. In the first week of April, however, he received a call asking him to appear before the police station with his voter identity card.

"I asked them what the purpose of the voter card was," Rajagopal recalled. "They said they wanted to generate an OTP to establish that it was my voter card."

He then informed the officer that his name had already been deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR process.

According to Rajagopal, the police then asked him to produce several other documents, including his Aadhaar card, matriculation certificate, father's death certificate and a utility bill showing his Kolkata address.

"I went there with all the original documents and copies. They told me the process would be underway," he said.

RAJAGOPAL'S FILE MOVED, BUT NOT FORWARD

Days passed without any update.

Rajagopal initially assumed the delay was because the police were occupied with the West Bengal election process. When he contacted the police station, he was told that "it has been sent."

Having obtained his passport from the same Kolkata address in 2005 and renewed it from the same address in 2015, he believed the verification report had been forwarded to the Regional Passport Office or the Passport Seva Kenra.

"I was so confident because it was only a renewal," he told IndiaToday.in. "For two decades, my passport has been issued and renewed from the same address."

But the application status remained unchanged.

When he contacted the police station again on May 19, Rajagopal said he was informed that the file had not been sent to the passport office but had instead been escalated to the Security Control Organisation (SCO), which functions under the Special Branch of Kolkata Police.

According to him, he was told that the local police had "some doubts or problems" with his verification.

'WAIT UNTIL YOUR NAME IS RESTORED'

Rajagopal said he visited the SCO office the following day, where an officer allegedly linked the verification to his deletion from the electoral rolls.

"He told me, 'Since your name has been deleted from the SIR, until your name is restored in the voter list, we won't be able to clear your verification,'" Rajagopal said.

He said he asked whether there was any government order or written instruction stating that passport renewal could not proceed if a person's name had been removed from the electoral rolls.

"He said this is what the procedures are and you have to follow it," Rajagopal recounted.

When Rajagopal asked what he should do next, he said the response was straightforward: "Wait until your name is included back in the voter roll."

LETTERS, BUT NO ANSWERS

Following the meeting, Rajagopal wrote to the Kolkata Police Commissioner but said he had received neither a reply nor an acknowledgement.

He also approached the National Human Rights Commission, which acknowledged receipt of his complaint.

Separately, he contacted the Passport Seva grievance cell.

"The Passport Seva Kendra said the police verification is ongoing," Rajagopal said, adding that the response was "technically correct" because "the ball was in the police's court."

On June 17, Rajagopal said he received both an email and a postal communication from the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata informing him that an adverse police report had been received against his application.

"The reason mentioned is deletion of name from SIR. It is in writing," he said.

The communication also asked him to appear before the Regional Passport Office after obtaining an online appointment. He secured an appointment for July 17.

"The mail doesn't mention what documents I have to carry or why exactly I am being called," he said.

THE SIR CONUNDRUM

Rajagopal said he was not a voter during the previous SIR exercise in 2002 and could not be mapped to the electoral rolls from that period.

According to him, he was also unable to locate his father's name in the 2002 electoral rolls despite his father having been an active voter.

"I was surprised and shocked," Rajagopal said. "My father was a Gandhian and a renowned social activist."

His mother had died in 1978, he said, and therefore her name would not have appeared in the 2002 rolls.

Rajagopal said he subsequently entered the adjudication process and submitted his Kerala government-issued matriculation certificate, one of the 11 documents permitted by the Election Commission.

"Even after that, my name was rejected. No reasons were cited," he said.

His appeal, he added, remains pending before the appellate tribunal, along with those of nearly 27 lakh others, and no hearing date has yet been communicated.

'I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN'

For Rajagopal, the unresolved electoral appeal and the stalled passport renewal have become intertwined.

"I am in a state of limbo," he said. "I can get a call from the tribunal tomorrow or even after a year."

His passport application, he said, is caught in the same uncertainty.

"They haven't rejected it. Had they rejected it, perhaps I could have approached the court," he said.

With his appeal already pending before the tribunal and no travel emergency at present, Rajagopal said he does not believe it would be appropriate to move the courts.

"So, in both cases, I am in a state of limbo," he said. "I don't know what's going to happen."

- Ends