A political storm has erupted in the Bankura district of West Bengal after claims emerged that numerous Muslim-sounding names have been listed under households that are reportedly Hindu. The dispute pits the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the run-up to the upcoming state assembly elections.

According to local BJP representatives, one village in Bankura was discovered to have “fake Muslim names” registered against homes where Hindu families reside. The BJP alleges this represents a deliberate attempt to skew voter rolls and inflate the Muslim electorate ahead of the next poll exercise. The party has demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) step in and undertake a full inspection of the electoral rolls in the area.

The TMC responded by denying any such large-scale manipulation and accused the BJP of politicising the matter for electoral gain. TMC sources insisted that the voter list errors, if any, are administrative in nature and should be corrected through standard verification procedures rather than being portrayed as a communal plot.

This controversy follows a series of similar allegations across West Bengal in which one political side accuses the other of altering voter lists or manipulating names to favour a particular community or party. For example, in April 2025 the BJP alleged that the TMC was “omitting names of Hindi-speaking Hindu voters” from registration lists.

Local authorities in Bankura have confirmed that they are aware of complaints regarding irregular names in the voter list and are reviewing those cases. A spokesperson for the Bankura district registration office stated that verification work is underway and emphasised that any proven discrepancies will be addressed in line with electoral law.

Election watchers say that such disputes about names, demographics and roll-verification are likely to intensify as the 2026 West Bengal assembly election draws nearer. They highlight that both BJP and TMC are increasingly framing the contest not just in terms of policy but along communal and identity lines — making the accuracy and integrity of electoral rolls a sensitive matter.

For now, the village in Bankura remains under scrutiny while political parties trade accusations, and the ECI may soon be drawn into the debate to maintain confidence in electoral processes.