In this Muslim-majority district, where seven assembly seats are located along or near the Bangladesh border, the campaign is fueled by accusations of illegal immigration, counterfeit identity documents, and claims regarding the demographic changes in the area.
The BJP charges the ruling TMC with facilitating infiltration for electoral gain, while the TMC counters that the BJP is exploiting the issue to target Bengali-speaking Muslims and polarize the electorate.
The Congress and the Left accuse both parties of transforming a troubled border into an electoral battleground.
However, in the villages along the riverine Bagri belt, political discourse often contrasts sharply with everyday life.
The border floodlights are activated after nightfall in Jalangi’s Char Bhabanipur. Beyond the embankment, on a dark stretch of the Padma river, lies Bangladesh.
There is no fencing here, only the river.
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In Sadikhanr Char village, where a narrow mud road concludes at the river, 58-year-old farmer Abdul Rahim keeps his Aadhaar card, voter slip, land deed, and his father’s ration card stored in a plastic pouch.
”When security personnel arrive in the village, they request documentation. We have lived here for generations. Yet, every few months, we are asked to prove we are not from Bangladesh,” he stated.
Rahim’s two bighas of land have been washed away by the Padma. His eldest son now works in Kerala.
”What does infiltration do for me? I need employment, a proper embankment, and my name on the ration list and voter list to access government schemes,” he lamented.
The border with Bangladesh in Murshidabad district stretches over 125 km. In many areas in Jalangi, Bhagabangola, and Lalgola, the river serves as the demarcation line.
As per government statistics presented to Parliament in December, there were 1,104 infiltration attempts along the Indo-Bangladesh border from January to November 2025, an increase from 977 in 2024.
In that same timeframe, 2,556 individuals were apprehended, slightly higher than the 2,525 arrests in 2024. Since 2014, a total of 8,632 infiltration attempts and 21,407 arrests have been recorded.
The data also emphasized the magnitude of the fencing issue. Out of the 4,096-km India-Bangladesh border, only 3,239 km, or 79.08 percent, has been fenced thus far. Almost 857 km remains unfenced.
West Bengal, sharing a 2,217-km border with Bangladesh, constitutes over half of the international frontier.
For the BJP, these figures have turned into a campaign tool. Senior party officials assert that undocumented immigrants are being settled in Murshidabad and other districts with political backing.
The party argues that nearly 450 km of the Bangladesh border in West Bengal is still unfenced because the TMC government has not provided land to facilitate “infiltrators,” who ultimately form the ruling party’s vote bank.
”Murshidabad is changing because the TMC permitted infiltration for votes. People want secure borders, proper identification, and a halt to illegal entry,” stated BJP district president Gouri Shankar Ghosh.
The BJP has consistently claimed that illegal immigration from Bangladesh has transformed the demographics of Murshidabad, Malda, North Dinajpur, and parts of North 24 Parganas.
The TMC finds this accusation baseless, calling it an attempt to polarize a Muslim-majority district.
”They label every impoverished Muslim as an infiltrator. The BJP aims for people to overlook unemployment and rising prices. They want fear to be the main narrative,” remarked TMC MP Abu Taher.
In the villages, however, an air of anxiety has increased following the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls.
Murshidabad experienced the third-highest deletions in the state, with over 7.48 lakh names being removed.
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The most significant impact was felt in Samserganj, where about 92,000 names vanished from the rolls. In neighboring Lalgola, nearly 69,000 names were discarded, while Bhagabangola saw approximately 58,000 deletions.
In Kalmegha village within Lalgola, 70-year-old Ashfaq Mollah expressed concern that his wife’s name was missing from the electoral rolls, despite her having voted in every election since the 1980s.
”We visited the office three times with our documents. They keep telling us ’come back later’. Now people are scared. If your name disappears from the rolls, others begin to question you,” he said.
Throughout Murshidabad, many Muslims express that the discourse surrounding infiltration has left them feeling perpetually under suspicion. In Jalangi bazaar, a BJP poster near the bus stand proclaimed, ”Seal the border, save Bengal.”
A short distance away, a TMC banner accused the saffron party of labeling every Bengali-speaking Muslim as an infiltrator.
Residents note that the lack of a border fence has also fostered a twilight economy involving cattle smuggling, drug trafficking, counterfeit currency, and nighttime crossings of the river.
”Everyone is aware of what occurs here. Cows are exported, ganja comes in, sometimes cough syrup, sometimes people. But no one wants to speak out openly,” a tea stall owner remarked.
Congress and Left leaders contend that both the BJP and the TMC are utilizing the border to distract from discussions about poverty, migration, and the collapse of agriculture.
”Thousands of young men from these villages are laboring in Kerala, Delhi, and Bengaluru due to a lack of local job opportunities. The river gradually erodes the land yearly. Yet, the elections are only centered on infiltration and SIR,” noted CPI(M) district secretary Jamir Molla.
