West Bengal Election 2026: Will SIR boomerang on BJP with TMC's early poll campaign? Mamata Banerjee's strategy revealed

Amid the death of three Booth Level Officers and strong opposition from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal is in full swing. Though the ruling party TMC, is against the exercise conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI), thousands of its workers have fanned across the state. They are going door to door to help the voters fill out the form, collect the relevant papers and submit the form to the relevant officials. With this, the Mamata Banerjee-led party has reached out to the voters; they are telling the people about the schemes launched by the government and asking them what more they want. This is beside the help they are providing the voters in filling the SIR forms. Thus, the TMC has started its election campaign much before others could think. Call it converting the crisis into an opportunity, but the TMC has already taken the lead. 

SIR in West Bengal

The SIR has stirred the state of West Bengal in such a way that the people in general have panicked, and none of them want to be left behind or out of the voters' list. According to the data provided by the ECI, the number of voters in the state has surged from 4.58 crore in 2002 to 7.63 crore at present, a hike of 66%. In other words, 3.05 crore new voters are to be added to the list. 

(Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has opposed the SIR.)

Bengal voter list surge

There are nine districts where the number of voters has gone up by 70% or more. Uttar Dinajpur has registered a growth of 105.49%. Other states with an increased number of voters are- 

• Maldah: 94.58%
• Murshidabad: 87.65%
• South 24 Parganas: 83.30%
• Jalpaiguri: 82.3%
• Cooch Behar: 82.3%
• North 24 Parganas: 72.18%
• Nadia: 71.46%
• South Dinajpur: 70.94%

BJP intruder allegation

All bordering districts—Uttar Dinajpur, Murshidabad, South 24 Parganas, Jalpaiguri, and Cooch Behar—have registered a growth of more than 80% in the number of voters. This is the point: the BJP hits hard, calling the new voters intruders, "ghuspathiya" in Hindi or "anupraveshkari" in Bengali. The saffron has alleged that the rise in population is due to the Muslim people, who have come illegally from the neighbouring nation of Bangladesh. It has vowed to identify them and send them back. On the other hand, the TMC says that they are mostly Hindus who have migrated from the neighbouring country to escape religious repression. TMC also questions the saffron party on why the BJP-led Union government under Narendra Modi has failed to stop the influx of Bangladeshi intruders, if any. With her optics and metaphors, the chief minister has pushed the BJP to a corner. 

(BJP has raked up the issue of intruders.)

Mamata Banerjee leads SIR protest

Mamata Banerjee has accused the saffron party of manipulating the voters' list and targeting a specific community to stop them from using their franchise. She reached out to the voters, addressed an anti-SIR rally in Bongaon, and assured them that no one can delete their names from the voters' list, as the Election Commission does not have the power to delete a single name. Without naming Bihar, she said that she knows the "game" of the BJP in the neighbouring state. Mamata Banerjee also warned the saffron party that she would take to the streets nationwide and "shake the entire nation" if she or her people were targeted in Bengal.

Analysts believe the TMC is exploiting the opportunity, and the SIR may prove counterproductive for the BJP.