On February 27, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee directed her party’s rank and file to scrutinise the State’s voters’ list and identify the “outsiders” who have made it to the list.
Ms. Banerjee alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the “blessings” of the Election Commission of India (ECI), has inducted citizens from other States in the West Bengal voters’ list. Citing examples of voters with the same Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number being enrolled in West Bengal and in other States, she said that the move to induct such “outsiders” into West Bengal’s voter list was intended to influence the Assembly elections, which are scheduled for 2026.
The Chief Minister has told her party leaders that in every Assembly constituency, there are 20,000-30,000 voters who are “not residents of the State” and are likely to tilt the balance in the favour of the BJP, the principal Opposition party in the State. She said that elections in the State will have no meaning if the “outsiders” were not removed from the voters’ list.
On March 2, the ECI issued a statement. It said, “It is clarified that while EPIC numbers of some of the electors may be identical, the other details including demographic details, Assembly Constituency, and polling booth are different for the electors with the same EPIC number.” Despite this assurance, Trinamool leaders have been going from door to door scrutinising the voters’ list in various parts of the State.
The BJP also believes that the voters’ list in West Bengal is full of “outsiders”. However, its idea of “outsiders” is different from the Trinamool’s. The BJP leadership insists that 17 lakh voters enlisted in the State’s voters’ list are “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh whose names should be removed from the list before the Assembly polls.
Until the 1970s, West Bengal was a hub of industries. People from different parts of the country flocked to the State in search of jobs. A significant share of the electorate in West Bengal therefore comprises people with roots in other States; they are referred to as the ‘non-Bengali” speakers. Moreover, West Bengal was also the destination for people who left Bangladesh both before and after the 1971 Liberation War. Bangladesh shares a 4,096-km-long land border with five States in India; West Bengal alone accounts for 2,216 km. This is why the voters’ list is likely to have people who have their roots in Bangladesh, but are culturally and linguistically connected to the people of West Bengal.
By challenging the voters’ list, both the Trinamool and the BJP are trying to set the tone of their respective campaigns for the 2026 polls. There are similarities between their current campaigns and those of the 2021 Assembly polls. That was when the Trinamool highlighted Bengali sub-nationalism and the BJP’s narrative was dominated by religious polarisation.
Ms. Banerjee has been saying “Bengal will not be administered by outsiders.” So far, the Trinamool has been able to portray the BJP as a party of “outsiders” whose leaders come from Gujarat and speak Hindi. Over the past decade, Ms. Banerjee has been able to convince the majority of the electorate that the BJP is full of “bohiragato (outsiders)” and “Bangla birodhi (those opposed to Bengal)”. This campaign worked for her in 2021 and she seems ready to launch her poll campaign along similar lines for 2026.
The BJP, which has placed all its bets on the polarisation of Hindu votes, sees the political turmoil in Bangladesh as an opportunity. BJP leaders in West Bengal have been constantly raising the issue of attacks on Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. They argue that West Bengal will go the “Bangladesh way” if there is no change in power in the State. They have already given up on reaching out to Muslim voters who comprise about 27% of the State’s population. BJP leaders, including the Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, have said that there is no point in having a ‘minority morcha (minority wing)’ when the party does not get any votes from Muslims.
Therefore, the BJP and Trinamool’s concerns about discrepancies in the voters’ list are political in nature. The Trinamool is figuring out the names of residents of Hindi-speaking States and the BJP is looking for people with origins in Bangladesh. The two parties may intensify these campaigns in the coming months.
Published – March 04, 2025 01:46 am IST