Mamata Banerjee warns of indefinite dharna before EC office over 'fake voter' allegations against BJP

Addressing a TMC conference here, Banerjee also questioned the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar as the chief election commissioner, alleging that the BJP was 'trying to influence' the constitutional body.

Kolkata: Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of manipulating the electoral rolls with the blessings of the Election Commission and enrolling people from Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat as electors in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday tasked her party’s leaders to find out the ‘ghost voters’ within 10 days.

With a little over a year to go before the next assembly polls in the state, Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, put the ruling Trinamool Congress into poll mode with a conclave of the party leaders from across the state at a stadium in Kolkata. She set the target for her party to win at least 215 seats in the 294-member state assembly of West Bengal.

“Our goal should be to secure 215 seats or more as well as to make the candidates of the BJP, CPI (M), and Congress struggle to save their deposits,” said Banerjee. She had earlier made it clear that the TMC would take on the BJP in the next assembly elections in West Bengal on its own, without any alliance with the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – the two other constituents of the I.N.D.I.A.

She accused the BJP of appointing several agencies, including Association of Brilliant Minds and India 360, for manipulating the electoral rolls in West Bengal online with the blessing of the EC. She cited a few examples of Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers of people of the state being linked to other people living in Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab. She alleged that the electoral rolls of West Bengal were being manipulated so that the BJP could bring in people from other states to cast votes in the state in its favour and against the TMC.

“In Delhi and Maharashtra, the BJP secured victory by adding fake voters from Haryana and Gujarat. Now, they aim to do the same in West Bengal. They know they cannot win if the elections are held fairly,” said Banerjee. She added that the other parties, which had contested the polls in Maharashtra and Delhi, had failed to catch the BJP in the act, but the TMC could when the saffron party wanted to do the same in West Bengal.

After the victory of the BJP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra assembly polls in November 2024, Congress, along with Nationalist Congress Party (Sharatchandra Pawar) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), have been alleging that 39 lakh voters had been added in five months between Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the western state, against 32 lakh added in five years between 2019 and 2024 general elections. Arvind Kejriwal, the supremo of the Aam Aadmi Party, also alleged manipulation of the electoral rolls in the New Delhi assembly constituency ahead of the assembly polls in the National Capital Territory, where his party eventually lost to the BJP.

“I used to respect the Election Commission. But now, it appears to be filled with BJP-aligned individuals. The new Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, previously worked as a secretary in the cooperation department under the Union Home Minister. Do not forget, we can also stage a protest near the Election Commission office in Delhi,” she warned.

“We will not allow outsiders to take over West Bengal,” vowed the TMC supremo.

Banerjee constituted a committee to oversee the TMC’s campaign to find out “ghost voters”, with the party’s state president Subra Bakshi at the helm of the panel, which would also include Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O'Brien, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, and several other MPs, MLAs, ministers, and party leaders. “Booth workers (of the TMC) must begin the verification process immediately. The party’s district presidents should oversee the process and submit their findings within seven days,” she asked her party’s leader. The overall scrutiny of the electoral rolls would start on Friday and should be completed within 10 days, she added.