Rajagopal, who edited the newspaper from 2016 to 2023, wrote that his name was struck off the Ballygunge constituency rolls in Kolkata in March, after the SIR process could not trace either his name or that of his late father in the 2002 voters' list. His father, a former State Secretary of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in Kerala, died in 2016.

"Like nearly 27 lakh other residents of West Bengal, I was excluded on account of what were described as 'logical discrepancies'. No reason was furnished even after I submitted my matriculation certificate, and my appeal is now pending before one of the tribunals constituted pursuant to the Supreme Court's directions," Rajagopal wrote. As a consequence, he said, he was unable to vote in the recent Assembly election.

He said the deletion has had a far more disruptive effect on his passport renewal. Although he completed his biometric formalities on 19 March, police verification was not cleared because his name no longer appeared on the electoral roll. As of 27 June, marking the 100th day since his biometrics were taken, Rajagopal said he was informed that Kolkata Police had sent an adverse report citing the deletion, and that despite submitting alternative documents, he had been asked to appear "immediately" before the Regional Passport Office, only to be given an appointment date of 17 July.

The delay, he said, meant he was unable to travel to attend his daughter's wedding in San Francisco on 17 April, despite holding a valid ten-year US visa.

Describing his situation as a state of "civic uncertainty," Rajagopal wrote that he now spends much of his time trying to reconstruct decades-old family documents, writing to his mother's old school and college for records, and reaching out to prohibition campaign activists in Kerala for any material showing his father's public work.

He said his intention was not to portray himself as a victim, but to highlight what ordinary citizens face. "If someone who spent his professional life in journalism and edited a relatively known newspaper can encounter such difficulties, one can only imagine what the truly marginalised must endure," he wrote.

Rajagopal's account has prompted criticism of the Centre from opposition parties. Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha said the episode reflected "the level of irrationality" the country had reached, while TMC's Sagarika Ghose called his account "shocking" and said it raised questions about what citizens with fewer resources may be enduring. CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby alleged that the SIR process was disenfranchising vulnerable sections of the population.