BJP candidate in Maha faces voter roll controversy in Bengal
Times of India | 25 January 2026
Suri/Kolkata: Online yoga teacher Ujjwala Appa Burungale, a voter from Dubrajpur in Birbhum along with her husband, has decided to contest the zilla parishad elections from Maharashtra as a BJP candidate. The couple has been served hearing notices as their enumeration forms lacked proper data of the previous SIR.
Bengal CEO Manoj Agarwal has sought a report from DM Dhaval Jain on the matter.
Agarwal said if the couple had shifted from Maharashtra to Bengal, they should be able to give their SIR data of Maharashtra. "As they were issued enumeration forms, their names exist in the electoral rolls. If there is any foul play, the BLO who accepted the forms would be penalized," he said.
Earlier, Trinamool flagged the issue and posted it on social media, questioning how a voter under scanner in Bengal could be a BJP candidate in a Maharashtra district council.
Appa Shankar Burungale, a goldsmith in Dubrajpur municipality ward 12, said he and his wife Ujjwala have been residing in Bengal since 2008 and that his wife went to Pune as their eldest son Projjwal was there for the class 12 board exam.
Shankar said they were from Solapur district and had their SIR data of Maharashtra, which they submitted to officials during the hearing on Dec 31. Ujjwala could not be contacted over the phone.
Shankar said: "My wife has gone to Maharastra to meet my elder son. Yes, she is contesting the polls there, but she is mostly a housewife and after the pandemic she started teaching yoga online to women. But she is not politically active and there she had just filed her candidature, but the campaign is yet to start."
BLO Lakshman Rewani said: "They themselves submitted enumeration forms. Only the higher authority knows what action will be taken in the future."
Local BJP MLA Arup Saha said: "I do not know them personally. She never worked for our party here."