On 28th February, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation led by Suvendu Adhikari submitted a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal alleging there were 16 lakh fake or duplicate votes in the state. The six-member delegation urged the commission to take immediate steps to address the issue. Notably, the BJP has been raising the issue of fake voters for years. They have pointed out that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants got access to voter cards in the state.
Addressing the media after the meeting with the CEO, Adhikari said, “Around 16 lakh fake voters have been found in West Bengal. There is evidence of double entry and deceased individuals are still named on the voters’ list. We have presented our findings to the ECI, alleging that these discrepancies were brought to facilitate the casting of fake votes in favour of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).”
Furthermore, he said that there were assurances in the past that the duplicate voters would be removed but no action was taken. He said, “Despite assurances of weeding out duplicate voters, nothing much was achieved. We regret to put on record that practically no steps were taken. There are around 16 lakh duplicate names in the voter list. Most interestingly, the gap between votes polled by the TMC and the BJP in 2019 was around 17 lakh only.”
Furthermore, they requested to conduct the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections in West Bengal in 42 phases as there are 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. They asserted it would help in curbing malpractice.
BJP has been raising issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants getting voter cards for years
This is not the first time the BJP has raised the issue of fake or duplicate voters in the state of West Bengal. In December 2023, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey pointed out the problem of Bangladeshi illegal immigrants in the country and demanded that the Central government implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) as soon as possible. Dubey is an MP from Jharkhand’s Godda. He has raised the issue multiple times in the Lok Sabha since he resumed office. Dubey alleged that the demography in many parts of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand was changing because of the increasing number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
He said, “When Mamata Banerjee was MP she had said the demography of Bengal was changing because of Bangladeshis. Since she became chief minister, Malda, Murshidabad and Kaliachak, is full of Bangladeshi infiltrators. The same is the situation in Katihar, Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia, and Bhagalpur (of Bihar). Demography is changing because of Bangladeshis.”
In November 2022, the Central Government alerted the Director General of Police of States and Union Territories about the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants living in India. They told the DGPs to take appropriate action against the illegal immigrants who sneaked into the country via West Bengal. As per reports, a well-connected network of agents and locals in West Bengal facilitated the entry of illegal immigrants. They also helped them in obtaining documents including bank passbooks, voter cards, Aadhaar cards and PAN cards. After entering into India, the illegal immigrants migrated to several other states as well including Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
In November 2022, West Bengal MLA Khokan Das stirred a controversy by saying that the Bangladesh immigrants who support TMC should get a place on the voter’s list. He said, “Many new people are coming…they are from Bangladesh. Many of these people vote for the BJP based on Hindu sentiments. Please ensure that only those who support our party get a place in the voters’ list.” The alleged statement was given during a public meeting in Bardhaman town and the video could not be independently verified by OpIndia. Later, speaking to the media, he claimed that he told the party workers that, “Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are entering our area every day. I gave a message to TMC workers that their names should not find a place in the voters’ list.”
Reacting to the controversy, BJP’s Bardhaman organisational district’s spokesperson Soumyaraj Mukhopadhyay said MLA should inform the Centre and State government about the illegal immigrants. He added, “This is why we will implement the Citizenship [Amendment] Act.” TMC on the other hand claimed that the MLA’s statement was misconstrued.
The issue of illegal immigrants has been a political matter for years. In January 2020, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said the National Register of Citizens would be implemented soon and one crore Bangladesh illegal immigrants would be sent back to their home country. He further alleged that the illegal immigrants were living on subsidised rice that the state government was providing for Rs 2 per KG. “These illegal Bangladeshi Muslims are involved in arsons across the state,” He said.
In October 2018, the Union Home Ministry sent details of 1.5 lakh illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to the West Bengal government. BJP leader Sidharth Nath Singh accused the Mamata Banerjee-led state government of hiding the information sent by the central government. He said, “The Union government has forwarded to the state government the details of about 1.5 lakh illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who are currently staying in West Bengal. But the state government is hiding the fact. I do not understand why they are doing so. The state government should understand that it is all about national security since people staying in West Bengal illegally is nothing but a criminal offence.”
In 2016, the Central Government informed the Rajya Sabha that there were around 2 crore illegal Bangladesh immigrants living in the country. Notably, before the 2016 revelation, in 2004, then minister of state for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told the Rajya Sabha that there were 1.2 crore illegal Bangladesh immigrants living in India out of which around 57 lakh were living in West Bengal. In his reply to Rajya Sabha, then Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said, “Deportation of illegally staying foreign nationals is a continuous process.”
In 2014, during his election rally in May, then-prime Ministerial Candidate Narendra Modi threatened to deport Bangladeshi immigrants if NDA came to power. He accused the state government of welcoming illegal immigrants with the red carpet for vote bank politics.
