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Poriborton Yatra begins in Bengal as BJP makes SIR voter deletions central poll plank
Following the publication of West Bengal's revised electoral rolls, the BJP has launched a political offensive, claiming over 50 lakh "infiltrators" were removed and making it a central plank. The party's 'Poriborton Yatra' aims to revive momentum and sharpen anti-incumbency against the TMC ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.
In a synchronised political offensive launched a day after the publication of West Bengal's post-SIR electoral rolls, the BJP on Sunday sought to convert the deletion of names into its central political plank, alleging that "over 50 lakh infiltrators" had been weeded out and declaring that "time is up for illegal immigrants" in the state.
Flagging off the party's 5,000-km 'Poriborton Yatra' from multiple districts, BJP national president Nitin Nabin claimed in Cooch Behar that most of those removed from the rolls were "infiltrators" who had secured fake documents, availed government jobs and cornered welfare benefits meant for genuine citizens.
After the 2019 surge and the 2021 setback, the West Bengal BJP launched 'Poriborton Yatra', its most expansive statewide mobilisation in recent years, in a bid to revive momentum, sharpen anti-incumbency against the TMC and test its rebuilt grassroots machinery ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.
"More than 50 lakh infiltrators have been removed from the voter list. These infiltrators were not only violating the rights of legitimate citizens, but also jeopardising the security of the country," he said, sharpening the party's citizenship narrative barely two months before the Assembly polls.
The EC's data, released Saturday, showed that 63.66 lakh names, around 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have 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 pruned over 58 lakh names in the draft rolls published on December 16 on grounds such as death, migration, duplication and untraceability. Following hearings and disposal 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, their eligibility subject to judicial scrutiny in the coming weeks, a number that could further recalibrate constituency-level equations if upheld or reversed.
For the BJP, the scale of deletions is not merely administrative, it is political ammunition.
Addressing a rally in Garbeta before launching another leg of the yatra, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan alleged that the TMC's objections to the SIR stem from its fear that the "votebank of infiltrators" would no longer be available in the upcoming polls.
Pradhan claimed that after the SIR, only genuine citizens remain on the rolls and that "ghosts and infiltrators" have been omitted, 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 shield 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 weaponising the exercise to polarise 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 belts.
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 mobilisation 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.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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