In a bid to counter anti-incumbency, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has dropped 74 lawmakers, including four ministers, and changed constituencies of 15 others ahead of the West Bengal assembly polls.
The TMC's move comes as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaigns on alleged corruption, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising to take action if the BJP is voted to power.
However, TMC leaders and analysts believe that the attention of voters, especially in villages and smaller towns, has shifted from anti-incumbency to the deletions as part of the voter roll Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
University of Calcutta professor Udayan Bandopadhyay said anti-incumbency can affect even a one-term government, and that the SIR has given the TMC a chance to consolidate its support.
Centre for Studies in Social Sciences professor Maidul Islam said the SIR is likely to consolidate Muslim voters and influence results in around 120 seats in the TMC's favour.
The BJP has claimed that most of those deleted were 'Bangladeshi infiltrators', while the TMC has maintained that genuine Muslim voters and Hindus, especially those from the Dalit Matua community, have been stripped of their right to vote.
