West Bengal elections: How will SIR voter deletions and anti-incumbency shape outcomes?

West Bengal is gearing up for assembly elections. Mamata Banerjee will face her toughest challenge, given the anti-incumbency factor of three terms. The BJP, in 2021, had cemented its position as the primary opposition, winning 77 seats to the Trinamool’s 215 seats. This time, unusually, but no longer surprisingly, the Election Commission has become a key character in the political narrative. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ended up deleting more than 60 lakh voters. And in many constituencies, the number of voter deletions is greater than the margins of victory in previous elections. Another issue is the mass transfers in the state bureaucracy, which are unprecedented, and were challenged in court by the TMC. Mamata has used these developments to frame the polls as a fight between a besieged Bengal and Bengali ‘asmita’ on one side, and a BJP-led Centre on the other. The BJP has been playing the anti-migrant card to polarise voters, and has also sought to target the TMC on corruption and misgovernance. Whose narrative will gain the upper-hand? What is happening with the lakhs of voter deletions? How will the SIR impact the outcome? We speak with Shiv Sahay Singh, The Hindu’s Chief of Bureau in Kolkata. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices