BJP demands audit of 1.2 crore entries made in Bengal voter list revision process

Alleging irregularities in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday demanded an audit of 1.2 crore digitisation entries made between October 26 and October 28.

In a letter to the state Election Commission, the BJP said that the form digitisation numbers had risen from 5.5 crore to 6.7 crore in the three days. The party claimed that the jump was “an abnormal and statistically impossible”.

It alleged that the surge was achieved not by booth-level officers, but by a political consultancy group, “known to be very close to the ruling TMC”, illegally performing the digitisation tasks.

“This is a direct attack on the neutrality and sanctity of the electoral roll,” the BJP said. “If outsourced political agencies are allowed to handle SIR work, the entire exercise becomes illegitimate.”

The BJP also urged the poll panel to “suspend the use of data” digitised through allegedly unauthorised means until the audit is complete.

The letter, signed by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and several party MLAs, was submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal.

Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition, claimed that the chief electoral officer’s office in Kolkata was not safe and alleged that the police were acting in a partisan manner, PTI reported.

“Functionaries of the Opposition political party are being prevented from entering your office by some people agitating outside, and the police are not acting against such activities,” the news agency quoted Adhikari as having told the chief electoral officer.

He also alleged that the names of Bangladeshi citizens had been illegally added during the voter roll revision process.

Adhikari said that the BJP had filed complaints against 5,000 booth-level officers, reported PTI.

He said that the leaders of the Hindutva party had also urged the chief electoral officer to provide security to all officials, including booth-level officers.

“We also demand that if necessary, the Central Armed Police Force be engaged to provide security to the CEO’s office, observers and BLOs,” Adhikari said.

The Central Armed Police Force reports to the Union home ministry.

The Opposition leader alleged that several officers who are not of the proper rank had been given the role of electoral registration officers. He demanded that such persons be replaced immediately.

BLOs being intimidation, says BJP

The comments by Adhikari came three days after BJP’s Bengal chief Samik Bhattacharya alleged that the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress had captured the revision process by taking control of the booth-level officers.

Bhattacharya said on Friday that the process in Bengal was being held under an atmosphere of “threat and intimidation”. Booth-level officers were being forced to take instructions from the Trinamool Congress, he alleged.

The BJP Bengal chief also alleged that the police was not acting on complaints filed by the booth-level officers about being threatened.

Saying that the situation in Bengal was different from other states as there has been a culture of political violence, he said that the Election Commission must take responsibility for providing security to the booth-level officers.

The BJP leader added that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will have to take responsibility for the problems faced by the booth-level officers where they are not provided security by the police and the state administration.

West Bengal is expected to head for Assembly elections in the first half of 2026.

Besides West Bengal, the special intensive revision of electoral rolls is underway in 11 other states and Union Territories.

Amid the exercise, at least eight suicides by booth-level officers and two deaths due to stroke have been reported in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan.

In Bihar, where the revision was completed ahead of the Assembly polls in November, at least 47 lakh voters were excluded from the final electoral roll published on September 30.

Concerns had been raised after the announcement in Bihar that the exercise could remove eligible voters from the roll. Several petitioners also moved the Supreme Court against it.