Al Jazeera reports: Recent state elections in India have produced one of the most consequential political verdicts in the country’s contemporary history, especially in West Bengal (WB), a border state of more than 100 million people that has long resisted the advance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).For the first time in history, the BJP has captured power in Bengal, winning 207 of the 293 seats declared so far and reducing the TMC to 80. One seat is due for repolling.The scale of the BJP’s victory has transformed India’s political map. But the verdict has also triggered profound questions over the integrity of the electoral process itself.The election took place after an extraordinarily sweeping and deeply controversial “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI), ostensibly to remove duplicate, deceased or “ineligible” voters.
Across West Bengal, more than nine million names — nearly 12 percent of the electorate — were initially flagged, removed or subjected to scrutiny during the exercise.The exercise disproportionately targeted Muslims, migrant workers and poorer voters in districts where the BJP has historically struggled electorally. In many constituencies won by the BJP, the number of deleted or disputed voters exceeded the margin of victory.The implications are grave. India may have crossed from electoral distortion into mass disenfranchisement.Bengal is not merely another Indian state.
Background
Partitioned in 1947 on religious lines during the violent birth of India and Pakistan, it shares a border of more than 2,200 kilometres with Bangladesh and has long occupied a central place in India’s political imagination. Muslims constitute roughly 27 percent of the state’s population and have historically voted strategically to block the BJP’s rise. Advertisement That is precisely why Bengal mattered so much to Modi.The BJP had expanded rapidly in the state over the past decade but failed to dislodge Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2021.
Key facts
- One seat is due for repolling.The scale of the BJP’s victory has transformed India’s political map.
- In many constituencies won by the BJP, the number of deleted or disputed voters exceeded the margin of victory.The implications are grave.
- India may have crossed from electoral distortion into mass disenfranchisement.Bengal is not merely another Indian state.
What this means
The 2026 election was therefore viewed both as a referendum on Banerjee’s weakening government and as a test of whether Indian elections still retained the institutional credibility they once enjoyed.The controversy centred on the SIR process, which was first rolled out in Bihar in June 2025 before being expanded to nine states and three Union Territories, including West Bengal.Under the exercise, Booth Level Officers — local election officials tasked with maintaining voter rolls — conducted house-to-house verification of voters. Citizens were required to re-establish their eligibility through documentary proof within extremely tight deadlines.
Failure to do so could result in deletion from the electoral rolls.For the first time since India adopted universal adult suffrage in its first general election of 1951-52, the burden of proving voting eligibility was effectively shifted to citizens themselves.This represented a dangerous rupture in the democratic compact.The process hit migrant workers particularly hard. Bihar and Bengal are among India’s largest sources of migrant labour, with millions working in distant states. Many were unable to return home within the narrow verification windows.
Originally reported by Al Jazeera. This story has been edited and re-presented by BRIC Team.
