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Newly published draft voter list for West Bengal under Election Commission (EC) released special intensive review (SIR), have immediately become the center of political conflict. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has seized on the data to refute the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) earlier claim that “one crore Rohingyas and Bangladeshis” have been fraudulently listed as voters in the state.
After a month of rigorous counting, verification and scrutiny in preparation for the 2026 assembly elections, the draft registers were finalised. While over 58 lakh names were removed from the overall exercise – on grounds ranging from death and permanent migration to duplication and non-submission of forms – the Election Commission’s analysis shows that only 183,328 voters were officially classified as ‘fake’ or ‘ghost’. This figure is much less than the repeated claims made by the opposition.
BJP leader Suvendu Official had earlier alleged that large-scale illegal infiltration by Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants had compromised the electoral integrity of the state and influenced previous election results. He had publicly urged the Election Commission to take decisive action to purge these alleged illegal voters.
Armed with the revised data, the TMC launched a focused counter-attack, accusing the opposition leader of deliberately spreading “misinformation”. The party has consistently maintained that the notion of a massive influx of Rohingya voters is a politically constructed narrative designed to manipulate public opinion ahead of the election cycle.
TMC spokesperson Krishnau Mitra said: “In the draft rolls, around 58 lakh voters have been deleted. According to BSF data, around 4,000 people have crossed back into Bangladesh through the Hakimpur border. What we are hearing is that in almost 80% Muslim-dominated constituencies, the average deletion rate is 0.6%, while in Matua-dominated areas the average deletion rate is around 9%.”
“The state’s total deletion rate is about 4%. If you remove the deaths, who are the remaining deleted voters? What precincts did they cross?” Mitra asked.
The BJP, on its part, quickly rejected the counter-allegations, with Adhikari reportedly ridiculing the allegations.
“This is just the beginning. Breakfast has just started. There will be lunch, tea and then dinner,” the official said.
The publication of the draft roll coincides with an increase in political rhetoric over alleged cross-border movement, particularly in the North 24 Parganas district bordering Bangladesh. A small but steady flow of undocumented Bangladeshis returning through the Hakimpur and Bongaon borders has become a new point of contention, further escalating the animosity between the BJP and TMC over infiltration, the disputed validity of voter lists and the Election Commission’s high-level amendment process months before the elections.
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