Draft rolls puncture ‘1 crore Rohingyas’ claim, TMC says as EC data shows 1.83 lakh ‘ghost’ voters

The ruling TMC (Trinamool Congress) on Wednesday said the draft electoral rolls published in West Bengal under the Election Commission’s SIR (Special Intensive Revision) have undercut BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s claim that the state hosts “one crore Rohingyas and Bangladeshis”, with the number of voters identified as ‘fake’ or ‘ghost’ pegged at 1,83,328.

The draft rolls, released after a month-long exercise of enumeration, verification and scrutiny ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, record deletions on grounds ranging from death and permanent migration to duplication and non-submission of enumeration forms.

While over 58 lakh names have been removed in total, the EC’s categorisation shows that the count of ‘ghost’ voters falls far short of the BJP leader’s repeated assertions.

Adhikari had earlier alleged that illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya immigrants were present in large numbers in West Bengal and had influenced electoral outcomes, urging the Election Commission to take decisive action against such voters.

The draft rolls, however, provide no numerical basis for the claim of one crore illegal voters, with officials saying the 1.83 lakh ‘ghost’ voters represent cases flagged during the SIR process after field verification.

The TMC cited the figures to mount a counter-offensive, accusing the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly of spreading misinformation. Party spokesperson Krishanu Mitra said that while around 58 lakh voters had been deleted from the draft rolls, the overall deletion rate in the state stood at about four per cent.

“As per Border Security Force (BSF) data, around 4,000 people have crossed back into Bangladesh through the Hakimpur border. What we are seeing is that in nearly 80 per cent Muslim-dominated constituencies, the average deletion rate is 0.6 per cent, while in Matua-dominated regions it is around 9 per cent,” Mitra said.

“If deaths are excluded, who are the remaining deleted voters? Through which borders did they leave?” he asked.

The party has maintained that there are no Rohingya voters in West Bengal and alleged that the narrative of mass infiltration was being politically manufactured in the run-up to elections.

The BJP rejected the TMC’s charge. Adhikari mocked the ruling party’s claims, saying, “This is just the beginning. Breakfast has just begun. There will be lunch, tea and then dinner.” While refraining from giving fresh figures, he said he would respond after the final electoral rolls are published on 14 February, as per the commission’s schedule.

The release of the draft rolls has coincided with heightened political sparring over cross-border movement, particularly in districts such as North 24 Parganas that share a border with Bangladesh. Reports of a trickle of undocumented Bangladeshis returning through the Hakimpur and Bongaon borders have emerged as a fresh flashpoint, sharpening BJP–TMC hostilities over infiltration, voter lists and the EC’s high-stakes SIR exercise.

Local residents and security personnel in Bongaon border areas said that since early November, when the SIR process gathered pace, there have been instances of undocumented migrants attempting to cross back into Bangladesh through narrow mud tracks and unfenced stretches. While officials indicated that the numbers involved were small, the visuals have acquired outsized political resonance.

What began as a limited reverse movement has now become a symbolic spectacle, with rival parties using it to reinforce competing narratives — the BJP pointing to infiltration concerns and the TMC arguing that the scale is being exaggerated far beyond what the data suggests.

With the 2026 Assembly elections on the horizon, the contest over voter data — who was deleted, why, and what it signifies — is expected to intensify, placing the SIR exercise at the centre of the state’s political debate.

With PTI inputs