In a shocking revelation that threatens to undermine the integrity of West Bengal’s electoral process, allegations of widespread duplicate, ghost, and dead voters have surfaced, casting a dark shadow over the state’s upcoming elections. With the Election Commission under mounting pressure to act, political parties are locked in a fierce battle to expose flaws in the voter rolls, raising serious questions about the fairness of the democratic process in the state.
The Trinamul Congress (TMC) has intensified its scrutiny of electoral rolls, with district leaders claiming to have uncovered thousands of ghost voters in Cooch Behar alone. TMC district president Abhijit Dey Bhowmik revealed that 4,072 ghost voters were detected, with a staggering 4,024 concentrated in the Mathabhanga segment. Mr Bhowmik announced that a second phase of scrutiny will begin on 17 March, following directives from TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
Meanwhile, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar has dropped a bombshell, alleging that over 1.11 lakh duplicate voters have been identified in Cooch Behar and 51,000 in Jalpaiguri. Majumdar, who is also a Union minister of state for education, claims that a total of 13,03,065 duplicate voters exist across West Bengal. He further highlighted alarming discrepancies, including 323 instances of duplicate Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) in the state and 7,235 EPICs with identical numbers but different voter details. Mr Majumdar has demanded an immediate and extensive review of the electoral rolls by the Election Commission.
The scandal deepens as Siliguri’s TMC leadership reports the detection of 558 dead voters and numerous duplicate and ghost voters in Siliguri and parts of Jalpaiguri. Siliguri Mayor Goutam Deb has called for the Election Commission to prepare a “justified and flawless” electoral roll, while TMC district president Papiya Ghosh alleges that hundreds of genuine voters, including party supporters, have been wrongfully deleted. Ms Ghosh has pledged to train party workers to identify flaws in the voter list using digital tools, signalling a grassroots-level offensive to safeguard electoral transparency.
As the political temperature rises, the Election Commission finds itself at the centre of a storm, with both the TMC and BJP accusing each other of manipulating the voter rolls. With the credibility of West Bengal’s electoral process hanging in the balance, the question remains: will the Election Commission rise to the occasion and deliver a fair and transparent election, or will the shadow of duplicate voters continue to haunt the state’s democracy?