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Fact check · West Bengal

Are 1 to 1.25 crore infiltrators on West Bengal's voter rolls? There is no evidence

The SIR deleted about 91 lakh names, but as dead, shifted, absent, duplicate or "ghost" entries. No official source counts foreigners, and border figures are hundreds of times smaller.

Published 9 Oct 2026Updated 9 Oct 20263 min readBy Facts of India

Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, now West Bengal's Chief Minister, has said 1 to 1.25 crore illegal immigrants are on the state's voter rolls. No official data supports that figure: the Election Commission publishes no foreigner category, and the largest BSF figure for people crossing back to Bangladesh is about 25,000.

No evidence

Claim: About 1 to 1.25 crore infiltrators, mainly Bangladeshi and Rohingya, are on West Bengal's voter rolls.

Said by: Suvendu Adhikari, BJP, in July and August 2025.

What the record shows: The ECI has never published a count of foreigners on or removed from the rolls. The Home Ministry says it holds no central data on infiltrators.

Where the claim came from

Claim · Suvendu Adhikari On 26 July 2025 at Tamluk, then Leader of the Opposition Adhikari said about 1.25 crore illegal immigrants were on Bengal's voter list and would be deported after an SIR. His reasoning: if about 50 lakh names were removed in Bihar, Bengal could have "as many as 1.25 crore". Business Standard On 3 August 2025 he spoke of "1 crore Rohingya, Bangladeshi, fake voters". Punjab Kesari

After the draft roll in December 2025 he said: "Breakfast has just begun. There will be lunch, tea and then dinner." PTI via The Week In March 2026 BJP president Nitin Nabin said "over 50 lakh infiltrators" had been removed. The Hitavada

What the evidence shows

Documented The SIR removed about 91 lakh names in West Bengal. ThePrint/PTI The draft roll's 58.2 lakh deletions broke down as 24.17 lakh dead, 19.88 lakh shifted, 12.20 lakh absent, about 1.38 lakh duplicates and 1.83 lakh "ghost" entries. PTI via The Week

No evidence Being non-Indian was not an explicit ground for deletion, and the ECI has released no statistics on foreigners. Reporters' Collective The 50 lakh "infiltrators" figure would require counting the dead and the shifted as infiltrators. Responding to an RTI application in January 2026, the Home Ministry said it holds no central data on identifying, arresting or deporting infiltrators. The Wire

Border figures. The largest is from an unnamed BSF official in May 2026: at least 25,000 Bangladeshi nationals had crossed back since 4 November 2025. ThePrint In June 2026 Adhikari himself told the Assembly about 10,000 people had been sent back. TBS The 1.25 crore claim is about 500 times the BSF figure.

The Supreme Court on 27 May 2026 told the ECI to share the names of suspected non-citizens with the Home Ministry within four weeks. No such names had been made public a month later. The Wire

Context

"No evidence" does not mean there are no infiltrators. Named cases exist, as set out in our fact check on Bangladeshi voter IDs. Claim · TMC The TMC called the figure communal rhetoric and dared the BJP to hand its list to the ECI. Business Standard The full data is on our West Bengal voter-ID page.

Questions people ask

Is Suvendu Adhikari's 1.25 crore figure true?

There is no evidence for it. The ECI has published no foreigner count, and the largest BSF figure for people crossing back is about 25,000.

Were 50 lakh infiltrators removed from Bengal's rolls?

No official source says so. The ECI's categories are dead, shifted, absent, duplicate and "ghost". Counting all of those as infiltrators would be wrong.

How many people went back to Bangladesh after the SIR?

A BSF official put it at least 25,000 since 4 November 2025. The Chief Minister said about 10,000 had been sent back by June 2026.

Sources

  1. Business Standard: Suvendu Adhikari claims 1.25 crore illegal voters, TMC dares proof, 26 Jul 2025
  2. Punjab Kesari: Adhikari claims 1 crore fake voters, 3 Aug 2025
  3. PTI via The Week: TMC says draft rolls puncture BJP's claim, 16 Dec 2025
  4. The Hitavada: Over 50 lakh infiltrators removed, says Nabin, 2 Mar 2026
  5. ThePrint/PTI: Nearly 91 lakh names deleted in Bengal, 7 Apr 2026
  6. PTI via The Week: Bengal draft rolls, over 58 lakh names deleted, 16 Dec 2025
  7. The Reporters' Collective: West Bengal CM and SIR data, 21 Jun 2026
  8. The Wire: Bengal CM orders holding centres, 25 May 2026
  9. ThePrint: 150 Bangladeshis checked at Hakimpur, BSF data, 28 May 2026
  10. TBS: 10,000 sent back so far, says CM Adhikari, 24 Jun 2026
  11. The Wire: Four weeks since the SIR judgment, 2 Jul 2026