Allay fears of people over SIR, West Bengal Governor tells ECI and State government

West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Sunday (November 23, 2025) urged Election Commission of India (ECI) to allay fears of people over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State.

“There are various fears among people about SIR. Incidents like suicide have happened. In this context, the Election Commission and the state government should meet more to allay people’s fears about SIR,” the Governor said. His remarks comes amidst reports of suicide and unnatural deaths in the State due to the ongoing SIR exercise.

He added that he would do everything in his capacity to allay these fears. Speaking to media persons, the Governor, who completed three years in office on the day, said that his priority remained violence-free and corruption-free West Bengal. “I will work for Bengal, especially for women and children. I want to build a violence-free, corruption-free Bengal,” he said.

On reports that people have gathered in large numbers along the borders with Bangladesh, particularly at the Hakimpur outpost, the Governor said that he would have to visit the field to understand the situation on the ground.

‘Change of demography’ plank

Over the past few days, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership has alleged that the demography of the State has been changed in border districts due to illegal infiltration from Bangladesh. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, after meeting Deputy Election Commissioner Gyanesh Bharati, raised the issue of ‘change of demography’ in districts bordering Bangladesh.

On Sunday, BJP leader Amit Malviya, in a social media post, said that between 2002 when the SIR was last conducted by the ECI and 2025, West Bengal has seen a 66% increase in the number of registered voters from 4.58 crore to 7.63 crore.

“ECI data shows that among the top 10 districts with the highest increase in voters, nine share a border with Bangladesh,” Mr. Malviya said.

The BJP leader said that as per ECI data, “the nine border districts that have seen the sharpest rise are: Uttar Dinajpur (105.49% increase), Malda (94.58%), Murshidabad (87.65%), South 24 Parganas (83.30%), Jalpaiguri (82.3%), Cooch Behar (76.52%), North 24 Parganas (72.18%), Nadia (71.46%) and Dakshin Dinajpur (70.94%)”.

Mr. Malviya said that the only non-border district in the top 10 is Birbhum (73.44%). “These illegal infiltrators are now spread across Bengal and the rest of India, forming the core of Mamata Banerjee’s vote bank. This is why she is desperately trying to shield them — and why her virulent opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is no surprise,” the BJP leader said.

‘100-150 voters being deleted from every booth’

On Saturday, a delegation of senior leaders of the Trinamool Congress met the Chief Election Officer (CEO) of West Bengal and raised allegations that 100–150 voters from every booth are being deliberately deleted at the behest of a political party. The delegation comprised senior Ministers Arrop Biswas and Chandrima Bhattacharya and MPs Partha Bhowmick and Bapi Halder.

“Across West Bengal, the Election Commission has systematically and deliberately erased the names of 100–150 voters from every booth. When you multiply that across nearly 80,000 booths, the sheer scale of this operation exposes a terrifying conspiracy to rob Bengal of its democratic voice. But let’s make one thing clear—our workers are guarding every booth like a fortress,” a press statement by the Trinamool Congress said.

Accusing the BJP of capturing almost every democratic institution in the country, the Trinamool leaders said that “even the Election Commission is being weaponised. But this time, their (BJP) plot will collapse and their manipulation will be exposed.”