Kolkata, March 15: With the poll season in West Bengal now officially underway, several issues are expected to dominate the campaign rhetoric of political parties in the weeks ahead.
SIR/Citizenship anxiety: The publication of post-SIR electoral rolls has triggered one of the most significant pre-election developments in the state in recent years, as the revision pruned nearly 63.66 lakh names from the voter list ahead of the assembly polls.
With the electorate shrinking from 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore, the exercise has dramatically altered the state’s electoral landscape and introduced a new element of political uncertainty just as the campaign season begins.
Apart from the deletions, around 60.06 lakh additional names are under adjudication, indicating that the voter list remains in flux even as political parties gear up for the polls.
The churn has forced parties to reassess their booth-level arithmetic, particularly in districts where large numbers of deletions have been reported.
The deletions are also concentrated in several border districts and urban belts – areas that are electorally sensitive and politically contested.
Infiltration: When PM Narendra Modi, from a rally in the Muslim-majority bordering district of Malda on January 17, made infiltration the central plank of his offensive against the TMC government – alleging that large-scale illegal migration altered demography, fuelled riots, and thrived due to the ruling party’s “patronage and syndicate raj” – he left little doubt that the BJP would run its election campaigns with the ‘ghoospetiya’ issue in forefront.
Amid a charged pre-poll political atmosphere, fuelled vigorously by the controversial SIR “roll-cleansing” exercise, the saffron camp has left no stone unturned to justify the process in the name of identifying “Bangladeshis and Rohingyas” on this side of the border.
During one of his recent visits, Union home minister Amit Shah sharpened the BJP’s pitch on infiltration, declaring that while “only names of infiltrators are being deleted now” from voter rolls, they would be “pushed out” once the party comes to power in the state. He accused CM Mamata Banerjee of abetting infiltration for poll benefits.
The TMC, on the other hand, has called the process a politically motivated exercise devoid of truth and reality, which is aimed at targeting the Muslim citizens of the state.
Corruption: Allegations of corruption by the opposition parties against the TMC dispensation continue to dominate Bengal’s political landscape, with the school jobs scam taking centre stage.
Religion and Polarisation: As the campaign for the elections gathers momentum, political observers expect the contest to witness heightened communal rhetoric and identity-driven mobilisation, with religion emerging as a key undercurrent in the electoral narrative. (PTI)
