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Kolkata: Bengal’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has taken an unexpected turn after a man missing for nearly three decades resurfaced in his native village in North 24 Parganas, jolting both officials and his long-estranged family.
Jagabandhu Mondal, who vanished from Bagdah on a winter morning in February 1997, walked back into the village this week to reclaim his identity as a voter. His sudden return brought an emotional upheaval to a household that had long accepted he was dead.
His wife Supriya, who had raised their two young children alone, recognised him instantly when he appeared at her doorstep. His father, Bijoy, also identified him without hesitation.
The family had spent years searching for him before turning to an astrologer, whose grim prediction led them to perform his last rites. Over time, Supriya rebuilt her life around the assumption that her husband would never return.
Mondal’s disappearance spanned almost 28 years, during which his name was removed from the voter rolls in Bagdah. Now 55, he said he had worked across several states, including Gujarat and Maharashtra, before settling in Chhattisgarh. It was only after losing his job there that he decided to come home.
His name, however, still appears on the electoral rolls in Bankura, prompting questions about his years away.
Suspicion arose in Bagdah when villagers noticed that the Bankura list carried the name of a woman called Sulekha Mondal next to his, suggesting he may have married again. Mondal has denied starting a second family and maintains he only moved from one state to another in search of work.
Local booth-level committee members say he returned because he needs his original voter identity documents and land records to be reinstated during the ongoing revision. While his father’s name appears on the post-SIR rolls from 2002, his does not.
Election officials now face the complex task of verifying his identity after nearly three decades without any official record of his whereabouts. Restoring his voter status, they say, may prove difficult without supporting documents to confirm his claims.
