BJP active with demand for a new voter list survey in West Bengal

West Bengal BJP state president and MP Samik Bhattacharya has demanded a new Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in the state. He raised this demand on Saturday, October 31, 2026, during the inauguration meeting of a contract workers' trade union at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. Bhattacharya claimed that the voter list revision process carried out before the assembly elections was incomplete.

Drawing attention, he stated that had the Block Development Officers down to Anganwadi workers and BJP workers not been intimidated, even more names would have been removed from the voter list. He explicitly stated that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted in West Bengal was incomplete. Speaking on behalf of the BJP, he added that a new SIR is needed in the state.

Comparing with other states, Bhattacharya said that assembly elections in Bihar were held after the SIR of the voter list, whereas no such process was undertaken before elections in Haryana and Delhi, where the BJP emerged victorious. Approximately 91 lakh names were removed from the voter list during the SIR conducted prior to the West Bengal elections. He further claimed that over 20 lakh fake Swasthya Sathi cards have been identified, which proves that the process of removing names on a large scale from the voter list in the state was correct.

Attacking the agitations by opposition parties demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, the BJP leader said that the CEC is being worshipped in West Bengal. He jested that he should be given nothing less than the Padma Bhushan award. He also noted that there are no longer any protests or agitations in West Bengal, and neither Rahul Gandhi nor Mamata Banerjee are in the state.

Taking aim at the Congress party, he said that the party once led by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is now forced to form alliances with regional parties to politically survive. Calling Congress a "parasitic political party", he said they are now claiming that the BJP won through fraud.

Speaking about the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), Bhattacharya said that the party no longer exists as a political force. Reiterating his pre-election prediction, he said that the existence of this party has come to an end. Currently, this party is divided into three factions: Mamata Trinamool Congress, Democratic Trinamool Congress, and NCPI.

India is scaling new heights under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Gandhi and emerged out of the category of the world's 'Fragile Five' economies in 2014, he stated. Referring to the 'Cockroach Janata Party' (CJP), he remarked that some people roam around like pests and venomous snakes, who are protesting with the demand to remove Commissioner Kumar.

In conclusion, taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi without naming him, he said that a leader jumped into a pond in Bihar to pretend to be with fishermen, but even there the fishermen rejected him. Notably, in November 2025, Rahul Gandhi joined local fishermen in a traditional fishing activity in a village pond in Begusarai. In West Bengal, the BJP has won the assembly elections for the first time by defeating the Trinamool Congress, which had been in power for 15 years.