The slogan of ‘Khela Hobe’ is very famous in the politics of West Bengal, but the ‘Khela’ that is being played before the 2026 elections is not happening on the field but on paper. A figure of the Election Commission has created a stir in the politics of Bengal. 56.37 lakh voters in the state have been found ‘uncollectible’ i.e. suspicious, who are being removed from the list. This figure is about 7.5% of the total voters. There is a simple rule of politics – 2% vote swing changes the government, here only 7.5% votes are going out of the system. This is not just a cleanliness campaign, but a political game that will change the mathematics of 294 seats in Bengal. But who will benefit from this?
19,000 votes ‘minus’ from one seat
- First of all understand this figure. 7.66 crore forms were examined in the state, out of which more than 56 lakh names were found worthy of deletion. If we distribute it equally among the total 294 assembly seats of Bengal, then on an average around 19 thousand votes were cast on each seat.
- Now think for yourself, if the margin of victory of an MLA whose victory was only 5 or 10 thousand votes, 19 thousand votes suddenly disappear from his seat, then what is the guarantee of his victory? This number is so big that it can cause the deposit of any candidate to be confiscated or make the loser win.
90 seats in danger zone
- The biggest impact of this ‘surgical strike’ will be on those seats, which are called ‘marginal seats’. If we look at the results of 2021, there are 80 to 90 seats in Bengal where victory or defeat was decided by a margin of less than 15,000 votes.
- Suppose a Trinamool or BJP candidate wins a seat by 5,000 votes. Now 19,000 names were deleted from the list during revision. Mathematics says that the votes lost are 4 times more than the victory margin. If there was even a slight inclination towards any one party in these deducted votes, then it is 100% certain that the result of that seat will be overturned.
‘Dead’ votes are fine, but who are the 30 lakh ‘missing’ people?
The real problem lies here. Out of 56 lakh, 23 lakh are deceased (their deletion is correct), but the remaining more than 30 lakh voters are ‘shifted’ (changed address) or ‘untraceable’ (not found).
Understand from Bihar connection
The biggest question is Mamata’s advantage or BJP’s silver?
Who will benefit from this 7.5% cut depends on who the ‘cutters’ are.
First: How does BJP benefit? BJP has been alleging for a long time that lakhs of fake voters, infiltrators and Rohingyas are included in the voter list in Bengal, who are the core vote bank of Mamata Banerjee. If the strictness of the Election Commission is driving out these bogus or infiltrator voters, then BJP will directly benefit from it and Trinamool will suffer huge losses in those seats where it used to win unilaterally.
Second: How does Mamata Banerjee (TMC) benefit? The second aspect is that a large number of people in Bengal live outside for work or change their address. If the BLO (Booth Level Officer), under the influence of the local administration, excludes pro-BJP voters or anti-incumbency (anti-government) voters from the list by declaring them ‘untraceable’, then Mamata Banerjee will directly benefit from it. In Bihar too, it was alleged that the ruling party got the opposition votes ‘deleted’.
Voting later, decision now!
The overall thing is that the battle for Bengal elections 2026 is being fought on the voter list before the polling booth. There will be no point in gathering crowd in rallies on a seat where 25 thousand votes will be deducted.
If these 30 lakh ‘missing’ voters are actually real citizens and they are being thrown out of the system, then understand that the mandate on 90 seats of Bengal is being technically ‘hacked’. Now it will be interesting to see whether this 7.5% cut is on Mamata’s vote bank or BJP’s supporters.
