Newton Das confirmed that he had voted for Trinamool Congress’s Kakdwip MLA Manturam Pakhira in the 2016 Assembly election, but failed to specify if he is currently in India or Bangladesh.. Photo: Screengrab from video via Special Arrangement
Amid the row over alleged irregularities in the voter lists of West Bengal, a person who was active in the students’ protest in Bangladesh in 2024, was found to be a registered voter in the State’s Kakdwip Assembly segment.
While several photographs of the youth, Newton Das, participating in the movement that brought regime change in the neighbouring country last year are available on social media, Mr. Das himself said he is a citizen of India. However, he did not deny that he was actively involved in the protests in Bangladesh.
“I went to Bangladesh in 2024 for issues related to an ancestral property and got caught in the revolution. I have been a voter in Kakdwip since 2014 but lost my voter card in 2017. In 2018, I got a fresh voter card with the help of local MLA Manturam Pakhira,” Mr. Das said in a video message.
Mr. Das confirmed that he had voted for Trinamool Congress’s Kakdwip MLA Manturam Pakhira in the 2016 Assembly election, but failed to specify if he is currently in India or Bangladesh.
Tapan Das, one of Mr. Das’s cousins, said that his “brother was born in Bangladesh and exercises voting rights in both the countries”. However, his account differed from Mr. Das’s.
“He (Mr. Das) had come here after the pandemic for selling some land and since then, he has not come here. Since he was born in Bangladesh, he is a voter of Bangladesh too. It is his fault that he is registered as a voter in both the countries,” Mr. Tapan Das, who resides in Kakdwip, told mediapersons. Kakdwip is located close to the Sundarbans, which shares borders with Bangladesh.
The incident sparked a major row in political circles with the Bharatiya Janata Party accusing the ruling Trinamool of enlisting Bangladeshi nationals as voters in West Bengal.
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said lakhs of Bangladesh nationals are registered as voters in West Bengal. Mr. Adhikari further claimed that the name of Saad Sheikh, an alleged operative of terror outfit Ansarullah Bangla, was included in the voter list of Murshidabad district. West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, in a social media post described the latest incident as another shining example of the “so-called Egiye Bangla Model”.
“The same Newton who was seen wielding a stick during Bangladesh’s quota reform movement is now a registered voter in Kakdwip,” Mr. Majumdar said, blaming the ruling party and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the thriving “illegal infiltration industry”.
The Trinamool leadership tried to turn tables on the BJP, pointing out that the job of safeguarding international borders and preventing illegal infiltration rested with the Border Security Force (BSF). “Whether these people come from land, water or air, the BSF and Union government are responsible. The State administration will do its role for sure,” Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh said.
In February 2025, Ms. Banerjee had alleged irregularities in the voter list of the State, saying voters from other states had electoral photo identity card (EPIC) numbers similar to those in West Bengal. The BJP leadership had hit back saying that people from Bangladesh were enrolled as voters in West Bengal at the behest of the ruling party.
Published – June 08, 2025 10:27 pm IST
