The Bharatiya Janata Party has claimed that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal has uncovered deep-rooted irregularities in the state’s voter database, alleging that these flaws helped Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) remain in power for years. According to the BJP, the findings of the exercise mark a turning point that could fundamentally alter the state’s political landscape.
Reacting to the large number of voter names identified for deletion following the SIR exercise, BJP leader Amit Malviya said the revision had exposed how the electoral system in West Bengal was allegedly manipulated. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Malviya alleged that votes were routinely cast using the names of illegal immigrants, including Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, as well as through bogus and outdated entries, which he claimed benefited the ruling TMC.
Malviya pointed out that the first list of around 58 lakh names proposed for deletion showed particularly high numbers from the Kolkata region, an area traditionally considered a stronghold of the Trinamool Congress. He argued that this pattern indicated systematic misuse of the voter rolls in past elections.
“This clearly shows how absent, shifted, deceased and duplicate voter entries were exploited earlier to cast votes in favour of the ruling dispensation. That route has now been shut. This time, genuine voters will decide West Bengal’s future, and they will vote to bring an end to the decaying Mamata Banerjee regime,” Malviya said in his post.
The BJP leader further claimed that the scale of the problem could be even larger than what has already been identified. He said there are nearly 30 lakh voter entries that remain unmapped, along with an additional 1.70 crore names that may soon receive notices seeking clarification due to serious inconsistencies in their records.
“Given these numbers, it would not be unreasonable to conclude that Mamata Banerjee has managed to stay in power largely due to votes cast in the names of illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingyas. That situation will change once the Special Intensive Revision process is completed,” Malviya asserted.
The Election Commission of India recently published the draft electoral rolls for West Bengal, which is heading into assembly elections, following the completion of the enumeration phase of the controversial SIR exercise. The publication of the draft rolls marks the beginning of the second phase of the process, which will involve claims, objections and hearings. This phase is expected to continue until February 2026, with the final electoral rolls scheduled to be released on February 14, 2026, ahead of the high-stakes state elections.
According to data released by the Election Commission, a total of 58,20,898 voter names have been identified for deletion. Of these, approximately 24,16,852 electors were marked as deceased. Another 19,88,076 voters were found to have permanently shifted residence or migrated out of their constituencies. In addition, 12,20,038 voters have been categorised as missing, while 1,38,328 names were flagged as duplicate, false or bogus entries. A further 57,604 names were proposed for deletion under other unspecified reasons. The Election Commission has clarified that individuals whose names have been excluded can file claims using Form 6, along with supporting documents, to seek inclusion.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly opposed the SIR exercise, accusing the BJP and the Election Commission of working in tandem to manipulate the voter list ahead of the assembly polls. She has repeatedly alleged that the revision process is politically motivated and designed to disenfranchise genuine voters to tilt the electoral outcome in favour of the opposition.
