Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya seeks fresh SIR in State, says earlier exercise incomplete

West Bengal BJP State President Samik Bhattacharya. File | Photo Credit: ANI BJP MP and West Bengal unit president Samik Bhattacharya on Saturday (October 31, 2026) sought a fresh SIR of electoral rolls in the State, claiming that the exercise conducted ahead of the Assembly elections was incomplete.He alleged that more names could have been deleted from the voter list had the officials involved in the exercise, from block development officers to anganwadi workers, and BJP workers not been intimidated."The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) held in West Bengal is incomplete," Mr. Bhattacharya said."Speaking on behalf of the BJP, I want to say that there is a need for a fresh SIR in the State," he said at the inaugural meeting of a trade union of contractual workers at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airpor.He pointed out that the Assembly elections in Bihar were held after the SIR of electoral rolls in the state, while no such exercise was conducted before the polls in Haryana and Delhi, where the BJP emerged victorious.Around 91 lakh names were deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR exercise in West Bengal ahead of the State polls.Claiming that more than 20 lakh fake Swasthyasathi cards had been identified, Mr. Bhattacharya said the findings demonstrated the validity of the large-scale deletions from the voter list in the state.Questioning the Opposition's protests demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the BJP leader claimed that the CEC was being worshipped in West Bengal."He should be given no less than the Padma Bhushan award," he said.The BJP won the Assembly polls in West Bengal for the first time, defeating the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress which was in power for 15 years."There are no cockroaches or agitations in West Bengal, no Rahul Gandhi or Mamata Banerjee in the state," Mr. Bhattacharya said.He claimed that the Congress, once led by leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, had been reduced to seeking alliances with regional parties to remain politically relevant.Calling the Congress a "parasite political party", Bhattacharya said, "They are now claiming that we won by deceit."He also claimed that the Trinamool Congress had ceased to exist as a political force in the state, reiterating his pre-election prediction that the party would cease to exist.The party has split into three factions -- the Mamata Trinamool Congress, the Democratic Trinamool Congress and the NCPI.Mr. Bhattacharya said India had scaled new heights under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, moving out of the category of the world's 'fragile five' economies in 2014."But there are some people -- bedbugs, cockroaches and house lizards -- who are roaming around," he said in an apparent reference to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which has been leading protests demanding Kumar's removal as the CEC.In an apparent dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, without naming him, Mr. Bhattacharya said, "There is a leader who jumped into a pond in Bihar to show that he was with the fishermen community, but they also rejected him from there."Mr. Gandhi had joined local fishermen in traditional fish-catching activities at a village pond in Begusarai in November 2025. Published - October 31, 2026 05:39 pm IST