Ahead of next year’s Assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP on Monday asked the Election Commission to immediately remove the district administration and civic volunteers from the electoral process, alleging that they have been involved in enrolling fake voters, including Bangladesh nationals, in the electoral rolls in exchange for money.
Addressing mediapersons here, Leader of Opposition in Assembly and Nandigram MLA, Suvendu Adhikari, also demanded a CBI probe into the matter.
Adhikari, who led a delegation of 40 BJP leaders to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) office in Kolkata, alleged that Rohingyas were being added to the voter list in Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district for a bribe of Rs 10,000 per name. “This is not an isolated incident in one district. Similar activities are being carried out across several districts. The administration acting under the instructions of the TMC leadership is being used to include fake names in the voter rolls,” the BJP MLA alleged.
In a letter to the CEO, Adhikari wrote: “An FIR was registered on May 18 at Kakdwip Assembly constituency… after malpractices of the inclusion of Bangladeshi foreigners in the voter list in connivance with the officers and staff of the state government was found.”
“We demand a CBI investigation into the Kakdwip fake voter case. The state police and administration are completely compromised,” he said.
Calling the issue a matter of national concern, Adhikari urged the Election Commission to act independently and ensure free and fair elections. “Unlike the previous two occasions in 2016 and 2021, I will not allow the Trinamool Congress to win through manipulation and fake voters this time,” he said.
Adhikari also cited the recent clashes in Murshidabad to allege that police and the state administration did not respond to the calls of help of the victims.
Citing a report by a Calcutta High Court-appointed committee, Adhikari alleged that police personnel in Dhulian and Samserganj remained unresponsive to distress calls from Hindu residents during the violence. “If this is the conduct of the state police, how can they be trusted to conduct elections? That’s why we are demanding that state police not be used during the election process,” he said.
“Keeping in view of the situation where the state machinery played the role of aggressor and persecutor, how can we expect the free and fair election by this state administration. The civic police are agents of the ruling party without any accountability and ethics as they are appointed by the ruling party without any exam or recruitment process,” the BJP leader alleged.
Adhikari further alleged that the state government was preparing to transfer police officers in a manner that would benefit the ruling party ahead of the 2026 assembly polls, and urged the Election Commission to monitor the process closely.
Reacting to Adhikari’s allegations, Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh dismissed them as “baseless and politically motivated”.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, “These are completely unfounded claims. If Rohingyas have managed to sneak into West Bengal, who is responsible for guarding the international border? It is the Border Security Force (BSF), which functions under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.” He questioned why the BJP, instead of holding the central government accountable, was blaming the state government.
“BSF is the first line of defence at the border. If there has been a failure, it is their lapse. The BJP should first question the MHA and their own central agencies before levelling allegations against us,” Ghosh added.
—With PTI Inputs