India’s two key border states, Assam and West Bengal, held elections in April 2026. Strategically, these states are extremely important for the security of India’s north-east region, with West Bengal’s 22 km Siliguri corridor (chicken neck) linking the north-east region to the rest of India. Furthermore, both states share an international border with Bangladesh. The porous nature of the border has historically been a major source of illegal migration from Bangladesh. Border security, immigration, and the region’s strategic importance were key issues in these elections. Moreover, border security and undocumented migration from Bangladesh were among the major electoral issues in both states. In West Bengal, there was a controversy over the acquisition of land for fencing, as the opposition accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of delaying the process. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, just after winning the elections, declared that border fencing would be its top priority in the state. In Assam, the incumbent BJP also made improvements in border security and the drive against the encroachment of forest land by illegal settlements, a key achievement.
This article addresses three major questions: What were the key security issues in the electoral discourse of these elections? Which of these issues, and why, are they important for India’s national security? And, finally, what are the implications of these elections for India’s national security?
Border Security: Border Management, Porous Borders, and the Issue of Fencing
One of the most significant national security threats to India along its eastern border with Bangladesh arises from the extensive and porous nature of the boundary. Both countries share 4,096 km of the international border. The state of West Bengal accounts for more than 50 percent of this boundary sharing approximately 2,216.7 km of border with Bangladesh. Assam shares around 263 km of border with Bangladesh. One of the peculiarities of the borderland in the region is the porous nature of the terrain. The borderland is dotted by the two major rivers, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, their tributaries, and their floodplains. This makes the management of the borderland a challenging prospect. According to the GOI, there are “783 numbers of porous stretches/gaps along the Indo-Bangladesh Border”.
Historically, India has tried to manage the security in this borderland through the use of paramilitary forces like the Border Security Forces (BSF). Their main task is to slow down the influx of illegal migrants and manage the international border. The fencing of the border began in 1986 after the signing of the 1985 Assam Accord. The Assam Accord and the unrest before that signify the challenge that the issue of illegal immigration poses to India’s territorial sovereignty, adding to India’s state-building challenges in the Northeast region.
According to a late 2025 report by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the fencing work is still pending. Out of the 2,216.7 km border between West Bengal and Bangladesh, 569 km is yet to be fenced. However, 112 km is “non-feasible” for the fencing process. The delays in acquisition of land is one of the main reasons behind this delay in West Bengal. This points to two challenges when it comes to building artificial barriers in the borderland region. Firstly, in the case of policy differences or a lack of coordination between the centre and the state, there could be a delay in policy implementation. Secondly, the nature of the borderland, porous, floodplains, and hundreds of kilometres of rivers/riverine, makes a significant portion of the borderlands unfeasible for fencing.
To manage such borderland areas, India launched a Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS). Stage I, involving two pilot projects in Assam and Jammu, was completed in 2019. Under CIBMS, the Border Electronically Dominated QRT Inception Technique (BOLD-QIT) project aims to integrate “manpower, sensors, networks, intelligence, and command and control solutions to improve situational awareness”. In short, smart border management is in place where there are no physical barriers. This pilot project was completed in Dhubri, Assam. Currently, phase II and III are underway.
Undocumented Immigration: Demographic Challenges, Land Encroachments in Assam, and Tensions between Communities
The nature of the borderland leads to other challenges, like the illegal movement of people, goods, and services. The illegal movement of people has in the past created national security challenges for the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal and continues to be a dividing subject. The large-scale illegal movement of people from Bangladesh creates several challenges for the local communities and communal relations. Firstly, the change in demography challenges the cultural security of small tribal communities that populate some of the borderland areas in Assam. Secondly, the change in demography can also deepen the cleavages between the two major religious communities due to anxieties about the changing demography. This leads to an increase in social friction and has led to even larger-scale violence in the past. Thirdly, this leads to the politicisation of the issue, and it moves away from the domain of securitization to electoral politics. This complicates the issue and policy response. For example, in the recent elections, there was a clear divide over the issue of land acquisition in West Bengal for the purpose of fencing. Fourthly, these demographic anxieties can also feed the local insurgent groups, thereby directly challenging the authority of the Indian state. Finally, the politicisation of the issue further complicates the relations between the centre and the state if both have divergent views. This challenges the federal structure and delicate balance over the management of the international border.
Elections and India’s Border Security: Short vs Long-Term Policy
Baldwin argues in his classic article on the concept of security that when prescribing policy, analyst should be mindful of the short- vs. long-term policy. Fencing, sensors, policing, paramilitary forces, and drones are short-term solutions. Here, the role of the state government is equally important. With the change in the government in West Bengal, policy on this front is likely to shift along the lines of Assam. However, these are only short-term solutions. In the long term, India needs to use diplomacy, both coercive and accommodative, with Bangladesh. Domestic push factors inside Bangladesh should be addressed to stop the inflow of illegal immigrants. This requires long-term commitment and strategic engagement from the Indian state. As India’s power increases regionally and internationally, it further enhances India’s diplomatic power and its capacity to shape the regional environment. These elections, in that sense, provide an opportunity to address the issue in a more holistic manner as the BJP now has power in both states. But for that to happen, Indian policymakers need to think both short and long term.
