TMC slams BJP over ‘citizenship’ status of its 2 Bongaon MLAs
Times of India | 13 August 2025
Kolkata: A fresh controversy has erupted over the citizenship status of two BJP MLAs in Bongaon, ratcheting up the political temperature between Trinamool and BJP over the special intensive revision (SIR) of poll rolls. The names of the MLAs' parents are missing from the recently published Bengal 2002 SIR data.
The issue surfaced after the TMC-backed faction of All India Matua Mahasangha submitted a deputation to the Bongaon sub-divisional officer (SDO) on Tuesday, demanding the disqualification of Bongaon North MLA Ashok Kirtaniya. The organisation alleged that while the 2002 electoral roll contains the MLA's name — then a resident of Ghatbaur panchayat — it does not include the names of his father or other family members. The Mahasangha claimed Kirtaniya's father entered India illegally after 2010.
Prosenjit Biswas, representing the Mahasangha, said: "We will approach the Union home minister and assembly speaker seeking Ashok Kirtaniya's disqualification as an MLA.
" Bongaon district TMC president Biswajit Das said, "Usually, the father's name appears in the voter list before the son's. Here, the son was registered first, the father later. Let Kirtaniya prove this. BJP should act.
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| Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in KolkataIn response, Kirtaniya presented documents, including his father's 1950 border slip and a 1993 voter list entry, as proof of citizenship. "Let TMC say what they want. I have all documents. They are making these allegations only to harass me," he said.
Before this row could settle, similar allegations emerged against Bongaon South BJP MLA Swapan Majumdar. Trinamool accused him of being a Bangladeshi national, claiming that neither he nor his parents were listed in the 2002 rolls.
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, youth president of Bongaon's TMC's organisational district, lodged a written complaint with the SDO and also shared documents with the media. These included two Bangladeshi records — one from April 2022 in which the chairman of Nizamuddin Union Parishad claimed that Majumdar's family members were residents of Nishchintapur village in Gopalganj, and another from 1996 showing his father, Santosh Kumar Majumdar, as the seller in a land deed. TMC alleged that Majumdar moved to India after 2002 and illegally enrolled in the voter list in Palla under Gopalnagar PS.
Denying the allegations, Majumdar said: "My father passed away before 2002. I moved to Mumbai for work, so I couldn't be physically present during voter list hearings, which is why my name was added later. I possess all necessary documents proving my Indian citizenship. TMC is trying to shield infiltrator Rohingya and grant citizenship to refugees.
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