Draft Electoral Rolls Spark Fresh TMC-BJP Clash Over ‘Rohingya Voter’ Claims in Bengal

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday said that West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls released under the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) have undermined BJP claims of large-scale infiltration by Rohingya and Bangladeshi voters, citing official data that shows only 1.83 lakh voters identified as “ghost” or fake.

The draft rolls, published after a month-long process of enumeration, verification and scrutiny ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, show that while over 58 lakh names have been deleted, most removals were due to reasons such as death, permanent migration, duplication and failure to submit enumeration forms.

According to the data, only 1,83,328 voters were flagged as fake or ghost voters during the SIR process—far below the assertion made by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who has repeatedly claimed that West Bengal hosts “one crore Rohingyas and Bangladeshis” influencing elections.

The TMC seized upon the figures to counter the BJP’s allegations, accusing Adhikari of spreading misinformation. Party spokesperson Krishanu Mitra pointed to deletion patterns across constituencies, stating that the overall voter deletion rate in the state stands at around 4 per cent. He claimed that Muslim-majority constituencies recorded an average deletion rate of 0.6 per cent, while Matua-dominated areas saw higher deletions of around 9 per cent.

“If deaths are excluded, who are the remaining deleted voters, and through which borders did they leave?” Mitra asked, questioning the BJP’s infiltration narrative. The party reiterated its position that there are no Rohingya voters in West Bengal and alleged that claims of mass infiltration are being politically manufactured ahead of elections.

The BJP, however, dismissed the TMC’s assertions. Responding to the criticism, Adhikari said the draft rolls were only the beginning of the process and that he would comment in detail after the final electoral rolls are published on February 14, as scheduled by the Election Commission.

The release of the draft rolls has intensified political sparring in the state, particularly in border districts such as North 24 Parganas. Reports of a small number of undocumented migrants returning to Bangladesh through areas like Hakimpur and Bongaon have added fuel to the debate, with both parties using the developments to bolster competing narratives.

As the 2026 Assembly elections draw closer, the interpretation of voter deletions and the credibility of electoral data are expected to remain at the centre of a high-stakes political confrontation between the TMC and the BJP.