BJP Won in Bengal Because of Deleted Voters: Shashi Tharoor
SanFrancisco: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has raised questions about the election process in West Bengal, suggesting that large-scale deletions from voter lists and delays in verifying objections may have affected the state’s election results.
Referring to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Tharoor said that around 91 lakh names were removed from the lists, while around 34 lakh people raised objections, claiming that they were legitimate voters. He noted that only a small portion of these objections were decided before the ballot box.
Speaking at the ‘India, This Bharat’ roundtable during the Stanford India Conference, Tharoor said: “What I have said on the SIR issue is a legitimate question that needs to be answered. Look at the Bengal case. 91 lakh names were deleted from the records. Of these, 34 lakh living people objected, saying that they were around and had the legal right to vote.”
He added that under the rules, each case must be decided individually, meaning only a few hundred cases were resolved before the vote was taken.
“To date, there are 31, 32 lakh people who could be identified as legitimate voters in the remaining years while the decision is pending, but they missed their chance to vote,” he said.
Tharoor also stated that the BJP’s margin of victory in West Bengal was around 30 lakh, which is close to the number of outstanding voter objections.
“And the BJP won Bengal by a margin of 30 lakh votes. Now tell me, is this completely fair and democratic? That is the question I am asking. Honestly, I have no problem deleting fake, deleted, absent, migrated voters,” he said.
The Congress leader also claimed that the voter roll revisions in Kerala could benefit the Congress party by eliminating duplicate or multiple voter registrations allegedly linked to the CPM.
“And in Kerala in particular, I suspect the Congress has benefited from the deletions because the CPM has long been adept at double registration, triple registration, quadruple registration – the same people in four different booths and so on,” Tharoor said.
He said unlike West Bengal, where 34 lakh appeals were filed, there were very few appeals in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
“And that means 34 lakh forms filled by 34 lakh people. And only a few hundred of them have been heard of,” he added.
The BJP scored a thumping victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, winning 207 seats and ending the 15-year rule of the All India Trinamool Congress in the state. TMC won 80 seats.
Following the results, the BJP formed its first government in West Bengal with Suvendu Adhikari leading the party and taking over as Chief Minister.
