Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit West Bengal on Saturday to address a rally at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground here and unveil development projects worth around Rs 18,680 crore, in his first trip to the state after the publication of the post-SIR electoral rolls last month.
The rally, organised by the BJP, will mark the culmination of the party’s statewide ‘Parivartan Yatra’ ahead of the 2026 assembly elections.
After the surge in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the setback in the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP’s yatra is being seen as its most expansive statewide mobilisation in recent years.
The yatra, which began on March 1, a day after the publication of the revised electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision exercise, criss-crossed nearly 5,000 km across the state, covering 237 assembly constituencies.
According to official data released on February 28, following the SIR exercise, 63.66 lakh names, around 8.3 per cent of the electorate, have been deleted since the revision process began in November last year, reducing the voter base in the state from about 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore.
In addition, more than 60.06 lakh electors have been placed under the “under adjudication” category, meaning their eligibility will be determined through legal scrutiny in the coming weeks.
Modi’s visit also comes amid reports that the Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule for the assembly elections next week.
During the visit, the prime minister will inaugurate and lay foundation stones for development projects spanning road infrastructure, railways, port and shipping sectors.
In a major push for road connectivity, Modi will launch several national highway projects with a combined length of over 420 km.
The projects include sections of NH-19 in West Bengal and Jharkhand and NH-114 in West Bengal, aimed at enhancing road safety, reducing travel time and improving regional connectivity.
He will also lay the foundation stone for several highway projects, including five packages of the 231-km four-lane Kharagpur-Moregram economic corridor section of NH-116A.
In the railway sector, the prime minister will inaugurate six redeveloped railway stations in the state under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, aimed at modernising passenger amenities and infrastructure.
