In a coordinated political offensive launched a day after the publication of West Bengal's post-SIR electoral rolls, the BJP on Sunday sought to use the deletion of names as a central political platform, alleging that "over 50 lakh infiltrators" had been removed and declaring that "the time has run out for illegal immigrants" in the state.
During the launch of the party's 5,000-km 'Poriborton Yatra' from multiple districts, BJP national president Nitin Nabin stated in Cooch Behar that most of those removed from the rolls were "infiltrators" who had obtained fake documents, secured government jobs, and accessed welfare benefits meant for genuine citizens.
Following the 2019 surge and the 2021 setback, the West Bengal BJP launched ‘Poriborton Yatra’, its most extensive statewide mobilization in recent years, in an effort to revitalize momentum, intensify opposition against the TMC, and test its revamped grassroots machinery ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
"More than 50 lakh infiltrators have been removed from the voter list. These infiltrators not only violated the rights of legitimate citizens but also jeopardized the country's security," he stated, emphasizing the party's citizenship narrative just two months before the Assembly polls.
The EC's data, released on Saturday, showed that 63.66 lakh names, approximately 8.3 per cent of the electorate, had been deleted since the SIR began in November, reducing the voter base from 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.
The 116-day exercise, the first intensive revision since 2002, had already removed over 58 lakh names based on criteria such as death, migration, duplication, and untraceability. Following hearings and the resolution of claims and objections, another 5.46 lakh deletions were recorded through Form-7 applications.
Additionally, over 60.06 lakh electors have been placed in the "under adjudication" category, with their eligibility subject to judicial scrutiny in the coming weeks, a number that could further alter constituency-level dynamics if upheld or reversed.
For the BJP, the scale of deletions is not merely an administrative matter; it is a political tool.
Addressing a rally in Garbeta before launching another leg of the yatra, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan alleged that the TMC's opposition to the SIR stems from its fear that the "voter base of infiltrators" would no longer be available in the upcoming elections.
Pradhan claimed that after the SIR, only genuine citizens remain on the rolls and that "infiltrators and ghost voters" have been removed, while conceding that isolated technical omissions of genuine voters, if any, would be corrected.
In Krishnanagar, Union Minister JP Nadda alleged that continued infiltration would render Bengal's "original inhabitants" a minority.
He accused the TMC of turning the state into a "hub of infiltrators" and blocking central schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, thereby depriving nearly 40 lakh families of health cover up to Rs 5 lakh.
Nadda cited figures to argue economic regression: 870 industrial units closed in 2015, 918 in 2016, and 1,027 in 2017-18; 6,628 investors allegedly exiting the state over the past decade; and Bengal's GDP share falling from 10 per cent in 1960 to 5 per cent now. He claimed 1,300 investors shifted to Maharashtra and 1,057 to Delhi, and referred to the shutdown of a Britannia factory.
Nabin, invoking the TMC's once-resonant slogan of 'Maa, Mati, Manush', asked whether the promised "Sonar Bangla" had yielded development or "corruption, anarchy, and exploitation".
He also accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of rushing to courts "at midnight" to protect infiltrators while allegedly ignoring issues of women's safety.
The TMC, however, rejected the BJP's infiltration narrative, maintaining that the SIR risks disenfranchising genuine voters and accusing the saffron party of weaponizing the exercise to polarize the electorate ahead of the polls.
Saturday's publication of the rolls has effectively redrawn Bengal's electoral geometry weeks before campaign drums reach full crescendo.
The deletions represent one of the largest single-cycle voter list contractions in the state's recent history. With over 60 lakh names also under adjudication, uncertainty lingers across dozens of constituencies, particularly in border districts and politically sensitive areas.
Party insiders privately concede that beyond the rhetoric lies hard arithmetic: in a state where winning margins in several seats in 2021 were under 5,000 votes, even a fractional shift in booth-level rolls can alter outcomes.
The BJP's nine simultaneous yatras – originating from Cooch Behar, Krishnanagar, Kulti, Garbeta, Raidighi, Islampur, Hasan, Sandeshkhali, and Amta – are designed as both mobilization and message discipline.
Traversing most of the 294 Assembly constituencies and culminating in a Brigade Parade Ground rally mid-March, expected to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the outreach across two weeks aims to reach 1 to 1.5 crore people.
Strategically, the party appears to be fusing the SIR data with its long-standing citizenship plank, attempting to consolidate border-belt anxieties with governance critique, from unemployment to women's safety to stalled central funds.
The TMC, on its part, is expected to counter with a narrative of voter protection, accusing the BJP of seeking to "delete democracy" by casting suspicion on large segments of the electorate.
