West Bengal Assembly elections 2026: How revised voter list after SIR turns Suvendu vs Mamata battle interesting in Bhabanipur? Explained

What was once considered a safe Trinamool Congress (TMC) seat has suddenly become the epicentre of a high-voltage battel between Banerjee and her arch-rival, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal has changed the political landscape of the state ahead of upcoming Assembly elections, none more dramatically than in Bhabanipur, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s traditional stronghold.

What was once considered a safe Trinamool Congress (TMC) seat has suddenly become the epicentre of a high-voltage battel between Banerjee and her arch-rival, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

The final post-SIR voter list, which was published on February 28 this year, deleted over 47,000 names from Bhabanipur, roughly 23% of the electorate. As per reports   another 14,000 stays under adjudication. This figure is very close to Banerjee’s 58,832-vote margin in the 2021 Bhabanipur bypoll, bringing latest drama into the contest. 

The voters number tell a very interesting story of asymmetry in one of the highly contested seat. When the SIR process began on November 4 last year, South Kolkata's Bhabanipur assembly segment, had around 2,06,295 voters.

The draft roll in December 2025 saw 44,786 deletions, with the final list adding another 2,324, bringing the total to approximately 47,094. 

In contrast, Suvendu Adhikari’s Nandigram constituency, his own bastion, recorded only about 10599 deletions from a larger base of over 2.78 lakh voters.

Nearly 91 lakh voters have been deleted from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the Special Intensive Revision exercise in the state, according to data released by the Election Commission. The pole panel is yet to declare the final altered voter base for the state after the SIR.
Bhabanipur’s deletions stand out as among the highest in urban Kolkata. 

As per the official data issued on February 28, around 63.66 lakh names, which was approximately 8.3 per cent of the electorate, were removed since the SIR process started in November last year, shrinking the voter base of the state to 7.04 crore from 7.66 crore

And as per the analysts, the political fallout has been swift and sharp, which might change the political wave in West Bengal. 

Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Banerjee in Nandigram in 2021 before she shifted to the safer Bhabanipur turf via bypoll, has repeatedly claimed that the revisions expose “stolen, duplicate, illegal and deceased votes” that helped TMC to claim consistent victories. 

In October 2025, Suvendu boldly predicted Mamata Banerjee would lose Bhabanipur by 20000 votes after SIR. On April 2, 2026, he filed his nomination from the Bhabanipur seat in a high-profile roadshow attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, signalling his rise as BJP’s de facto chief ministerial face. He is contesting both Bhabanipur and Nandigram in a twin-seat gamble. 

Mamata Banerjee has hit back fiercely, accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) and BJP of a “nexus” aimed at voter suppression. TMC leaders allege that deletions disproportionately target minority (especially Muslim) voters. According to several reports over 56% of those under scrutiny in the constituency belong to this group, despite Muslims comprising only about 24% of the electorate.

TMC has ordered booth-level verification and even sought the removal of the Bhabanipur Returning Officer, citing his alleged proximity to Adhikari. 

Political analysts view the SIR-driven changes as a game-changer that has made the Bhabanipur contest far more competitive and symbolically potent.

“The deletions have effectively neutralised a significant chunk of Mamata’s traditional support base in south Kolkata, where urban anti-incumbency over issues like the RG Kar hospital incident, SSC and ration scams, and governance fatigue is already high,” notes one Kolkata-based observer. 

BJP strategists see the revised rolls as a rare chance to crack Mamata’s fortress, banking on communal polarisation and the narrative of “clean” electoral rolls.

TMC counter-strategists, however, argue that aggressive door-to-door campaigns and minority consolidation could still be Mamata's base for victory, framing deletions as an undemocratic ploy. 

With West Bengal Assembly polls scheduled for April 23 and April 29 and results on May 4, Bhabanipur has become a litmus test for West Bengal’s 2026 verdict.

The SIR revisions have stripped away the cushion of past margins, pushing both leaders into an uncharted, intensely personal fight.

Whether the deletions translate into actual voter shifts or fuel a TMC backlash remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: the Suvendu vs Mamata rematch in Bhabanipur is now the most watched contest in the state, redefining the rules of engagement in Bengal’s polarised politics.