West Bengal
In Bengal, BJP's Strongest Voter Base Needs Attention Quickly
Abhishek Kumar
Apr 07, 2026 | Updated 09:59 AM GMT+5:30
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At Chandpara Gram Panchayat in Bangaon Dakshin assembly constituency, the second supplementary list under the Special Intensive Revision deleted 183 of 186 names. The majority were Matua.
Bangaon Dakshin is an SC-reserved seat in North 24 Parganas that falls under the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency of BJP Union Minister Shantanu Thakur, the head of the BJP-aligned faction of the Matua Mahasangha. Thakur won Bongaon by 1.10 lakh votes in 2019.
His own parliamentary constituency now has among the highest voter deletion rates in West Bengal.
A third supplementary list followed on the night of 29 March. According to figures reported by Outlook India and The Tribune, Bagda has seen 40,230 deletions since the Special Intensive Revision began, followed by Bangaon Uttar (34,109), Bangaon Dakshin (25,464), Gaighata (23,488) and Swarupnagar (around 15,000). In four of these five constituencies, only around 15 per cent of Matua voters could establish a direct linkage with the 2002 electoral roll in the first round of scrutiny.
Taken together, that is roughly 1.38 lakh names across five adjoining assembly segments in and around the Bongaon Lok Sabha constituency. Thousands more sit in the "under adjudication" category, on the rolls but unable to vote until judicial officers clear them.
These are not opposition seats. These are the seats where BJP built its Bengal base after 2019. Total deletions across the state have now crossed 77 lakh, with Election Commission sources projecting the figure could touch 90 lakh. The SIR, which BJP championed as an exercise to purge Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators from the electoral rolls, has instead produced its sharpest cuts in the Hindu refugee belt that is the party's Bengal floor.
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Abhishek is Staff Writer at Swarajya.
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