The Union home ministry has asked Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed to leave the country after the BJP complained that he had campaigned for the Trinamul Congress candidate in Raiganj in north Bengal.

“After receiving a report from the Bureau of Immigration regarding visa violations committed by a Bangladesh National, Ferdous Ahmed, the home ministry has cancelled his business visa and issued him a leave-India notice. He has also been blacklisted,” the home ministry said in a statement issued in Delhi.

The Foreigner Regional Registration Office in Calcutta has been asked to comply with the order.

Ahmed, who has been acting in Bengali films in Bangladesh and Bengal for two decades, has been accused of taking part in a public meeting at Hemtabad in North Dinajpur in support of Kanaia Lal Agarwal, the Trinamul candidate in the Raiganj seat, on Sunday. Two actors from Bengal, Ankush and Payel, were also allegedly present at the meeting. Later, the trio allegedly participated in a road show.

Bengal BJP leaders Jay Prakash Majumdar and Shishir Bajoria filed a complaint with the Election Commission, following which the home ministry acted.

Agarwal, the candidate, said: “I am campaigning on my own. I have not brought him here for campaign and I did not organise either the meeting or the road show.”