West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | The cat is out of bag: Mamata over BJP rubber stamp on EC letter row

Kolkata: A day after a row erupted over the purported BJP rubber stamp on a communication of the Election Commission, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that it has now been proven beyond doubt which party is controlling the poll watchdog from the backseat.

“It is now clear from this BJP rubber stamp on EC notification who is running the commission from behind. The cat is out of the bag,” Banerjee told reporters at the Kolkata airport as she headed to Bagdogra in north Bengal, where she is scheduled to kick start her election campaigns.

A controversy erupted on Monday after a letter from the EC was found carrying the seal of the BJP Kerala unit.

In order to back her claims, the CM held up a newspaper report on the row.

“This is not a clerical mistake, it’s a political conspiracy,” Banerjee added, refuting the EC’s reported response that it was a human error.

Alleging that the development put a serious question mark on the poll panel’s impartiality in conducting the elections, Banerjee urged all parties to unite and fight the “EC-backed attempt to impose one-party rule in India”.

“It doesn’t matter if opposition parties belong to the Right or Left ideologies. I request them to come together and protest the EC-backed one-party rule, save democracy in the country and ensure free and fair polls,” she said.

(With PTI inputs)