Bengal polls- SIR deletions exceed victory margins

Metro India News | Hyderabad

In a landmark shift in West Bengal politics, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a historic two-thirds majority in the 2026 Assembly elections, winning 207 out of 294 seats and ending Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year rule. However, an in-depth data analysis reveals a striking pattern: in 105 of the seats won by the BJP—roughly half its tally—the total number of voters deleted during the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls exceeded the party’s margin of victory.

Of these 105 constituencies, 86 were ones the BJP had never won before. The party swept many traditional TMC strongholds, with TMC’s seats plummeting from 215 in 2021 to just 80. The SIR process, which ran for six months and removed around 91 lakh names—shrinking voter rolls by 12%—was backed only by the BJP among major parties. At least 27 lakh deletions remain under adjudication by special tribunals. The analysis, drawing from Election Commission of India results and data from the Sabar Institute, highlights potential sensitivity in outcomes.

In swing seats flipped from TMC to BJP, deletions often dwarfed narrow victories. For instance, in Bankura’s Indus seat—previously held by BJP—the party won by just 900 votes after 7,515 deletions. In Jadavpur, a former Left and TMC bastion in South Kolkata, over 56,000 names were purged, while BJP triumphed by 27,716 votes, marking its first win there despite limited prior presence. High-profile TMC losses amplified the trend. Minister Aroop Biswas lost Tollygunj by 6,013 votes after nearly 38,000 deletions.

Mamata Banerjee herself conceded Bhabanipur to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari by 15,105 votes, with over 51,000 deletions recorded. At least ten other TMC ministers suffered defeats where deletions surpassed margin. While strong anti-incumbency against the TMC government undeniably drove the verdict, the scale of deletions in closely contested seats has sparked debate over the SIR’s role. 

Critics question its timing and impact on voter demographics, particularly minorities, while supporters view it as essential cleanup of bogus entries. The BJP retained all its 2021 seats and expanded dramatically, but these numbers underscore how electoral roll revisions intertwined with the dramatic political realignment in Bengal.