illegal immigrants

Gulshan Colony, with a population of almost 200,000 individuals, reported merely 3,000 registered voters during the SIR drive.

In the BBC article headlined, “Political turmoil in Indian border state as nine million lose voting rights”, Bhattacharya pushed a border state panic narrative and framed the name deletions as a politically motivated “loss of voting rights” that could “shape state policies”. Staying true to the objective of the propaganda piece, the Kolkata-based ‘independent journalist’ emphasised on the imaginary targeting of Muslims.

Investigators seized Bangladeshi documents, SIM cards and suspected forged Indian identity papers during searches. Witnesses said victims were brought through the border, confined in sheds and forced to work at waste segregation units for meagre wages.

Initially, the EC deleted 58.25 lakh voters who were found to be deceased, absent, shifted, or had duplicate entries in the draft rolls published last December.