Kolkata: Days after there was significant outrage following the revelation that the name of R. Rajagopal, former editor of The Telegraph, had been removed from the electoral rolls and his passport was subsequently not being renewed by authorities, the journalist has received his renewed passport, The Wire has learnt.Thanking everyone for their help in the matter, Rajagopal wrote in a public message:“However, I must point out that, viewed against the larger backdrop, the issue has not progressed much since I discussed it publicly last week. As far as I know, neither the Central Government nor the Government of West Bengal has yet issued any clarification on whether data collected under the SIR for a specific purpose can be used for other services.”Rajagopal’s announcement on having been left out of the electoral rolls following the Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) in Bengal and the implication of this deletion on his ability to get his passport renewed had made news and led to questions on bureaucratic practice.In a piece published on The Wire, Rajagopal wrote:“He [an official] said clearance [for his renewed passport] could be given only after my name was restored to the voters’ list. When I said there was no certainty about when my appeal would be decided, he said I would have to wait and that there was no other option.“I was puzzled because I could not find any public document that listed the voter identity card as a mandatory document for passport renewal.”Poignantly, Rajagopal also wrote:“In this season of soccer, I, like countless Indians, have been converted into a football, kicked around from one office to another and from one portal to another.”The Editors Guild of India was among organisations that condemned the deletion and the subsequent non-renewal of his passport.Some opposition leaders have been vocal about this as well. Kerala chief minister V.D. Satheesan wrote to his West Bengal counterpart, Suvendu Adhikari, urging the government to consider the fact that Rajagopal is a “renowned journalist who has been based in Kolkata for the past three decades”, and also the son of Professor V. Ramadas, who served as state secretary of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi in Kerala.In a letter to Union external affairs minister S. Jaishankar on June 29, Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP in Rajya Sabha John Brittas expressed concern over the authorities’ handling of Rajagopal’s case, saying it raises fundamental questions about constitutional due process, statutory coherence and the rule of law.Brittas has reacted to the news of Rajagopal getting his passport on X. “While it is a relief that he has finally received it after a long delay, it is deeply unfortunate that he had to miss his daughter’s wedding because of this bureaucratic hurdle,” he wrote.Senior journalist and former editor of The Telegraph, Shri R. Rajagopal, has finally received his renewed passport. Its renewal had been rejected because his name was deleted from the electoral roll during the SIR in West Bengal. While it is a relief that he has finally received… pic.twitter.com/6mDWKaKpA7— John Brittas (@JohnBrittas) July 4, 2026Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had shared Satheesan’s letter from his X handle, calling the entire episode “an egregious miscarriage of justice”.Trinamool Congress MP and a former journalist Sagarika Ghose termed the incident “shocking” and “heart rending”, while also questioning the silence of mainstream media on the issue.