The BJP on Wednesday complained to the Election Commission of India (ECI) over a Bangladeshi national campaigning for a Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate in the Dumdum Lok Sabha constituency.

In a letter to the Chief Election Officer (CEO) in West Bengal, the BJP alleged that a Bangladeshi national called Noor Gaazi campaigned for TMC Sougata Roy in Dumdum, one of the major areas in urban Kolkata. TMC leader Madan Mitra, too, was seen with the Bangladeshi national, the party alleged.

The BJP said that while Gaazi violated terms of visa, the incident also shows a “gross violation of the very basics of any democratic structure”.

“Not only is this act in complete violation of the terms of visa which makes the foreigner an illegal person in India, but this is yet another case of a foreigner actively influencing the electoral process of India’s highest law making body – Lok Sabha,” the BJP said, adding that it was “a gross violation of the very basics of any democratic structure”.

Underlining that visa rules specifically provides for action against the foreign national and the sponsoring person/agency including imprisonment, the BJP stressed that Ghazi has clearly violated the visa regulations.

“The visa rules of India clearly state that those holding Temporary Business Visa are permitted 12 types of specified activities in which participating in election campaign or in any form of electoral process is not mentioned,” the BJP said in its letter.

The party also attached a pen drive containing a 2 hour-long video of the road show in which Gaazi was seen with Roy and Mitra.

This is the second instance of the TMC fielding a Bangladeshi national in the campaign process.

Following a complaint from the BJP to the ECI, the Union home ministry asked Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed to leave the country after he campaigned for the TMC in Raiganj in north Bengal.

In a statement the Home Ministry said that it received a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by Ferdous Ahmed following which it has cancelled his business visa and issued him a leave-India notice.

Ahmed has also been blacklisted.