Elections are round the corner in West Bengal.
The first phase of polling will be on April 23 - hardly 11-12 days from now.
But the statistics say over 90 lakh voters' names have been deleted after SIR and adjudication process.
West Bengal electorate stands at 6.75 crore voters, lower than the 7.66 crore voters on the rolls before the SIR began in October 2025.
There were 7.34 crore voters eligible to vote in the last Assembly election in 2021.
Analysts say over 90 lakh voters excluded by SIR in West Bengal,
63% are Hindus and
34% are Muslims
What they do not tell is -- there are different reasons for deletion of names.
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One of the most common reasons is change in residence.
If a voter has permanently shifted to another constituency or city but hasn’t updated their registration, their name may be deleted from the old address to avoid duplication.
Names are also removed if a person is registered in more than one place, since Indian law allows voting in only one constituency.
Another major category is deceased voters, names that remain on rolls due to lack of timely updates are identified and deleted during door-to-door checks.
In West Bengal, political parties including the Left and TMC exploited the gaps if people changed their residence or even if some people have expired.
There are also cases linked to verification gaps. If Booth Level Officers cannot locate a voter at the given address after repeated visits, the person may be marked as “not found".
Now the spins - facts along side Concoction:
As Muslims make up 27% of West Bengal population, their 34% deletion rate under the SIR is significant.
This is possibly correct but illegal infiltrators from Bangladesh would be Muslims only. Sociologists and media are either missing the point or doing it deliberately.
If Bangladeshi immigration is to be considered -- the largescale impact is among Muslims and that's a natural course.
Reports claim a high rate of 'Hindu deletions' seen in Matua-dominated border constituencies. This is also something possible. Of course, Matuas are HIndus but they have to show legitimate papers nevertheless.
The Matuas have rebuilt their lives and developed their own identity and culture during their decades living in Bengal, which they do not want to risk jeopardising. Once denied entry into temples controlled by upper-caste Hindus, community members have built their own shrines.
These temples to Harichand Thakur, Shanti Mata and Guruchand Thakur — in localities like Mukundapur, Bagha Jatin and Kalikapur — remain crucial to Matuas’ identity.
The Matuas are a significant Hindu socio-religious community primarily composed of Namasudras (Scheduled Castes) who migrated from Bangladesh to West Bengal, India, fleeing persecution.
Founded by Harichand Thakur in the 19th century, the sect emphasizes social equality and empowerment. They hold major political sway, influencing over 40-45 seats in West Bengal politics.
Now take this quote as reported in a Kolkata-daily which has a track record of being anti-BJP and anti-Modi.
“We have voter cards, Aadhaar cards and PAN cards. If we now declare that we were born in Bangladesh and are waiting to secure Indian citizenship, all these identity documents will become invalid. What will happen later, no one knows,” a community member said, requesting anonymity. (as reported)
The missing facts here -- even if someone has Aadhaar or PAN cards, Those can be verified and if found 'not correct'; their validity can always be questioned and checked by competent authorities.
The citizenship is granted to Hindus from Bangladesh under CAA. But for that people have to produce papers about their Bangladeshi originality.
The Mamata Banerjee-led party and a select eco system is giving an impression that just you walk in and then you will get yours names registered or added. But when the SIR was going full swing; it was the TMC that raised multiple bogies.
Even deaths among BLOs and other officials were shown as SIR pressure.
The BJP has maintained that the process of SR was a drive to sanitise the electoral rolls and remove “illegal infiltrators” from Bangladesh.
"Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chah ti hae Bangal ko ghus petiyo sey mukt kar do
(BJP wants West Bengal to be free of infiltrators)," Amit Shah said at an election rally.
He further said: "Mamata Banerjee wants to protect them. Jitna jor lagana hae laga lo .. ek ek ghuspetiyon ko hum Bangal ke bahar nikalengey".
"Mamata Didi, You do whatever you can ... but we will trace each illegal immigrant and send them away".
There are twists in media play.
One newspaper (from Chennai) says - The data on exclusions now show that Hindus faced high deletion rates in certain border constituencies where the majority of the electorate are Matuas.
These Matuas are a sect of Hindu namasudras, a Dalit community, who migrated from Bangladesh in large numbers and are being promised citizenship by the BJP under the Citizenship Amendment Act.
For instance, in the Bagda Assembly seat in North 24 Parganas district, 50,230 voters were deleted, of which 46,826 are Hindus.
and only 3,264 are Muslims.
(The paper does not mention - just because their names (Hindu names) not there; does not mean they will be chased out.
The Govt of India has been crystal clear --- while illegal infiltrators (Muslims) will be identified and chased out; there will be sympathetic approach as per constitution for Hindus who come to India after religious persecution in Bangladesh or even Pakistan and Afghanistan.)
At the Bongaon Uttar Assembly seat in the same district, 42,164 voters have been deleted, including 37,101 Hindus and 4,310 Muslims.
In the Bhabanipur Assembly segment, there were 50,987 deletion, of which 37,227 are Hindus and 12,084 are Muslims.
In certain districts of the Jangalmahal region where the population of Muslims is low, Hindus account for almost 90% of the deletions.
In Jhargram, about 94% of the electorate excluded from the electoral rolls are Hindus.
They account for 91% of deletions in Bankura, and 88% of deletions in Purulia as well.
While 63 lakh voters were dropped from the draft rolls published by the ECI on February 28, another 60 lakh faced adjudication by judicial officers.
On April 6, 27 lakh electors were excluded.
Of 90 lakh people deleted during the adjudication process, the highest numbers were in Muslim-dominated districts.
Murshidabad, the district with the highest percentage of Muslims in the State, also recorded the highest deletions of electors under adjudication, with over 4.55 lakhs excluded from the 11.01 lakh names which went for judicial scrutiny.
Bhawanipore and Nandigram also saw more deletions among Muslim voters than Hindus making TMC leadership nervous.
Speaking to reporters during a BJP campaign, state unit chief of the Lotus party, Samik Bhattacharya said, “We do not depend on Harijan, Girijan, Adivasi, Matua, Rajbanshi (communities) and do our politics.
We have a vision for the entire people of West Bengal.”
The State BJP President highlighted that it is the BJP’s “agenda to free the people from the curse named Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.
This time the contest is between the public versus Mamata Banerjee".
ends
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