Bengal polls: SIR, infiltration, corruption to dominate campaign rhetoric

With the poll season in West Bengal now officially underway several issues are expected to dominate the campaign rhetoric of political parties in the weeks aheadSIRCitizenship anxiety The publication of postSIR electoral rolls has triggered one of the most significant preelection developments in the state in recent years as the revision pruned nearly 6366 lakh names from the voter list ahead of the assembly pollsWith the electorate shrinking from 766 crore to just over 704 crore the exercise has dramatically altered the states electoral landscape and introduced a new element of political uncertainty just as the campaign season beginsApart from the deletions around 6006 lakh additional names are under adjudication indicating that the voter list remains in flux even as political parties gear up for the pollsThe churn has forced parties to reassess their boothlevel arithmetic particularly in districts where large numbers of deletions have been reportedThe deletions are also concentrated in several border districts and urban belts acirciquestiquest areas that are electorally sensitive and politically contestedInfiltration When PM Narendra Modi from a rally in the Muslimmajority bordering district of Malda on January 17 made infiltration the central plank of his offensive against the TMC government alleging that largescale illegal migration altered demography fuelled riots and thrived due to the ruling partys patronage and syndicate raj he left little doubt that the BJP would run its election campaigns with the ghoospetiya issue in forefrontAmid a charged prepoll political atmosphere fuelled vigorously by the controversial SIR rollcleansing exercise the saffron camp has left no stone unturned to justify the process in the name of identifying Bangladeshis and Rohingyas on this side of the borderDuring one of his recent visits Union home minister Amit Shah sharpened the BJPs pitch on infiltration declaring that while only names of infiltrators are being deleted now from voter rolls they would be pushed out once the party comes to power in the state He accused CM Mamata Banerjee of abetting infiltration for poll benefitsThe TMC on the other hand has called the process a politically motivated exercise devoid of truth and reality which is aimed at targeting the Muslim citizens of the stateCorruption Allegations of corruption by the opposition parties against the TMC dispensation continue to dominate Bengals political landscape with the school jobs scam taking centre stageThe Supreme Court had in April 2025 cancelled appointments of more than 25000 candidates as teachers and staff recruited by the state School Service Commission due to irregularities found in the recruitment processReligion and Polarisation As the campaign for the elections gathers momentum political observers expect the contest to witness heightened communal rhetoric and identitydriven mobilisation with religion emerging as a key undercurrent in the electoral narrativeBengal where electoral discourse historically remained relatively insulated from overt communal politics has gradually been drawn into sharper ideological contestation between the TMC and the BJPBoth parties have accused each other of encouraging polarisation The BJP alleges minority appeasement by the ruling party while the TMC counters by accusing its rival of attempting to divide communities along religious linesAgainst this backdrop the upcoming elections could witness a more pronounced communal divide in certain regions particularly in districts with mixed demographic compositionsPolitical analysts say the interplay between religious polarisation the SIRrelated voter churn and the anxieties of communities such as the Matuas could together shape the tone and trajectory of the campaign in the months aheadLaw and order womens safety The issue of law and order particularly those related to womens safety has emerged as a key political flashpoint in Bengal drawing sharp reactions from both the ruling establishment and the oppositionOfficial data cited by the government indicates that several initiatives including dedicated women police stations increased night patrolling and helplines have been introduced to improve safety However incidents like the rapemurder of the medical intern at RG Kar hospital and the alleged gang rape of a student inside the South Calcutta Law College premises have led opposition parties to argue that incidents of assault harassment and trafficking continue to spike in the stateOf the 294member Bengal assembly the TMC in 2021 won 215 seats up four seats from its tally of the 2016 edition of state polls as against 77 seats won by the BJP which improved its numbers by 74 seatsCurrently following multiple defections resignations and bypolls the strength of the TMC in the assembly stands at 223 with support of one more MLA from the Darjeelingbased Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha Suspended TMC leader Partha Chatterjee continues to remain an Independent MLA in the HouseThe BJPs numbers in the state assembly have currently reduced to 64 mostly on account of defections to the TMCThe Indian Secular Front and the newly formed Aam Janata Unnayan Party occupy one seat each Three seats in the house remain vacant on account of deaths of sitting MLAsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever