"Pointing Fingers, Losing Temper": Trinamool MP vs Poll Body Chief Over Electoral Rolls

A 10-member Trinamool Congress delegation led by Abhishek Banerjee met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi Tuesday to complain of the large-scale manipulation of electoral rolls during the voter re-verification drive in Bengal.

The meeting comes amid escalating confrontation between the ruling Trinamool and the BJP-led centre over a process that is being carried out months before the Assembly election.

The former has repeatedly claimed the re-verification drive is being used to selectively delete, reclassify, and flag voters through what it called 'opaque (and) software-driven mechanisms'.

Addressing the media after submitting a detailed representation, Banerjee said the focus on EVMs, electronic voting machines, had distracted from what he termed the real threat to free and fair elections. "Vote chori is not happening in EVM. It's happening in electoral rolls," he said.

In its written submission, the party flagged the introduction of new and unexplained categories such as 'suspicious voters' and 'logical discrepancies' in the re-verification process, arguing that such classifications did not exist in earlier SIR exercises. The party demanded that the Election Commission make public the complete 'logical discrepancy list' to ensure transparency.

“If it is not happening, then release the 'logical discrepancy' list. In earlier SIR there was no such thing as a suspicious list,” Banerjee said, alleging that electoral rolls were being 'weaponised' to influence election outcomes. He claimed he conveyed these concerns directly to the CEC, saying, “I clearly mentioned this to Gyanesh Kumar - 'you are weaponising electoral rolls'.”

Banerjee also sought to broaden the issue beyond Bengal, alleging that opposition parties in other states had failed to detect similar problems in time. “Parties like Congress and AAP couldn't catch this in Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana... If they would have caught that, BJP would have lost in these states,” he said, calling for greater coordination among opposition parties."

Describing the meeting as tense, he alleged the delegation's concerns were dismissed.

"When we were talking he started pointing fingers, interrupted, and was losing temper. I replied, 'you are nominated and I am elected'," he claimed, accusing the centre of undermining constitutional institutions. "This government is running on WhatsApp circulars. Gyanesh Kumar was sent on a mission to destroy this institution and our country," he alleged, challenging the EC make public proceedings of the meeting, including CCTV footage.

Calling the issue a political turning point, Banerjee appealed to opposition parties to act decisively. "I appeal to like-minded parties to catch the chori they are doing through software in voter rolls," he said, adding, "It's a challenge to us, we have come here to throw your government out of power."

The delegation included the Trinamool's Chief Rajya Sabha Whip Md Nadimul Haque and MPs Derek O'Brien, Kalyan Banerjee, Mamata Thakur, Saket Gokhale, and Ritabrata Banerjee, along with senior leaders Pradip Mazumdar, Chandrima Bhattacharya, and Manas Bhunia.

Responding to the delegation, the Election Commission rejected the allegations and issued a set of counter-directions. The EC said the Bengal government should immediately release the enhanced honorarium approved by the Commission for Booth Level Officers (BLOs). It also informed the delegation that additional polling stations would be set up in high-rise buildings, gated communities, and slum areas to improve voter access and facilitation.

The Commission further cautioned the party to ensure that its ground-level political representatives do not threaten or intimidate officials involved in election-related duties. It made clear that any intimidation of electoral staff, including BLOs, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Assistant EROs (AEROs), and observers, would not be tolerated.

Warning of strict action, the EC said any attempt to interfere with the election process or take the law into one's own hands would invite strong punitive measures, underscoring its commitment to maintaining the integrity of the electoral process.