Mamata alleges ECI-BJP nexus over voter list deletions

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged an “ECI-BJP nexus” behind the deletion of 63.66 lakh names from the State’s electoral rolls following the SIR, claiming that the exercise was designed to help the saffron party ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.

In her first reaction since the publication of the final post-SIR rolls on February 28, the TMC supremo termed the deletions “deliberate and inhumane,” asserting that genuine voters were being struck off because the BJP “cannot win elections on its own merit”.

The CM also declared that she would emerge victorious in her Assembly constituency, Bhabanipur, notwithstanding the deletions, and “even if there is one vote left”.

“These deletions in voter rolls due to SIR have been done deliberately by the BJP and the ECI. The ECI has deliberately deleted genuine voters. I am shocked. This is a very sad and inhumane state of affairs,” she said at a Holi programme here.

The post-SIR rolls recorded 63.66 lakh deletions, about 8.3 per cent of the electorate, reducing the voter base to a little over 7.04 crore. In addition, more than 60.06 lakh voters have been placed in the “under adjudication” category, subject to scrutiny in the coming weeks, marking one of the most sweeping electoral revisions in the state since 2002.

With the state heading into a fiercely contested election likely in April, the scale of the revision has injected fresh volatility into Bengal’s political battlefield, sharpening the narrative war between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP. At the heart of the controversy lies Bhabanipur, widely regarded as Banerjee’s pocket borough and the constituency she represents in the Assembly.

Banerjee claimed that “massive deletions” had taken place in her seat, but declared she would prevail regardless.

“Bhabanipur is a small constituency. There were only about 2.6 lakh voters. Earlier, 44,000 were excluded. This time, 14,000 more were placed ‘under adjudication’, and also around 2,000 because of so-called logistical discrepancies. Where are these voters? Why are they missing?” she said.

“Despite massive deletions in my Bhabanipur constituency of nearly 60,000 voters, I will win even if there is one vote left,” she asserted.

Official figures, however, show that Bhabanipur had 2.06 lakh voters when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process began on November 4 last year. The draft roll published on December 16 reflected 44,786 deletions.

In the final list released on Saturday, another 2,324 names were removed, taking the total deletions to 47,094. Over 14,000 names in the constituency have been kept “under adjudication”.

The figure of deletions is roughly 11,000 less than the margin of over 58,000 votes secured by Banerjee in the 2021 Bhabanipur bypoll, a statistical coincidence that has added a sharper political edge to the constituency’s pre-election discourse.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had flashed a victory sign on Saturday after the final list was published, remarking that “no one can save Mamata now”.

Banerjee hit back on Monday, alleging that the names of TMC supporters were being selectively removed.

“They have removed the names of TMC supporters. They do not believe in people; they only believe in central agencies. They cannot scare us,” she said.

Accusing unnamed BJP leaders of orchestrating the deletions through “agencies”, Banerjee alleged that between 10,000 and 30,000 names had been struck off in several TMC-held constituencies.

“They cannot fight democratically. So, they try to grab power through bias and by finishing democracy,” the CM said.

Signalling that the issue would be converted into a campaign plank, the TMC chief announced she would sit on a dharna from March 6 against the “EC-BJP nexus”.

The chief minister said her government and party had approached authorities “from the Supreme Court to the Election Commission” and had cooperated peacefully with the process, but warned that the people of Bengal were ready to give a “befitting reply” if genuine voters were denied their franchise.

“The people of Bengal are ready to give a befitting reply to those trying to conduct elections by removing genuine voters before the polls,” Banerjee said.

In a swipe at the BJP’s ongoing ‘Poriborton Yatra’ in West Bengal, she said, “This will be the party’s last (antim) yatra in the State.”

Calling the SIR exercise a “human issue” rather than a political one, Banerjee said the pain of deletions extended beyond party lines.

“You may not feel the pain if your own name is there. But when your neighbour’s name is deleted, that is also your pain. Today it is theirs, tomorrow it could be yours,” she said.

Invoking Rabindranath Tagore ahead of ‘Dol Purnima’, Banerjee described her political life as a “continuous struggle”.

“I faced struggles in my early life and will continue to struggle for common people,” she said, adding, “There will be victory of human power (Manabik Shakti) over demonic power (Danavik Shakti).”

Highlighting the social composition of Bhabanipur and Bengal, she added that the state represented Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and Jains living together across caste and religious lines.