Meet Salim ‘Awasthi’: CPI-M leader, son's name changed in draft West Bengal voter list

CPM's state general secretary and former MP, Mohammed Salim

In a clear instance of genuine error in West Bengal's draft electoral rolls published by the Election Commission on Tuesday, CPM's state general secretary and former MP, Mohammed Salim, and his son, Atish Aziz, have been given a Brahmin last name -- Awasthi.

The mix-up, has allowed the opposition to double down against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, saying how can an elaborate exercise overseen by the poll body afford to show such inconsistencies.

The poll body on Tuesday published state's draft electoral rolls following SIR, deleting the names of more than 58 lakh voters on various grounds, including death and migration, and redrawing voter profiles across districts and border belts ahead of the 2026 assembly polls. The current term of the 294-member West Bengal assembly is till the first week of May 2026.

In a social media post, Aziz said he is a registered voter in the Kolkata Port Assembly constituency and that his name appears in official records as Atish Aziz. However, while verifying the draft electoral rolls, he noticed that the surname “Awasthi” had been added to his name, with the same error reflected in his father’s entry as well.

“If such a mistake can occur in the case of someone who has been in public life for decades, it raises serious questions about what ordinary voters might be facing,” Aziz said. PTI reported.

Aziz questioned the rationale behind conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, which involves expenditure of crores of rupees, if basic inaccuracies continue to surface.

In a sharp remark, Aziz wrote that while sections of the media and the BJP had claimed the SIR would be used to target Muslims, the process instead ended up “turning both my father Md Salim and me into Brahmins” by adding the surname.

Aziz also shared images of the draft rolls to substantiate his claim and said the CPI(M)’s booth-level agent has taken up the matter with the office of the Chief Electoral Officer. The draft electoral rolls were published on December 16 following the digitisation of enumeration forms under the first phase of the SIR exercise.