Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee launched his party's campaign for the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections with a fiery rally in Baruipur on Friday. The event was dominated by sharp allegations against the Election Commission of India over its ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state's voter list.
"I Will Make Three Ghosts Walk": The Living "Dead" Voters
In a dramatic moment, Abhishek Banerjee ushered three individuals onto the stage, declaring he would "make three ghosts walk." He identified them as Monirul Islam Molla and Harikrishna Giri from Metiabruz, and Maya Das from Kakdwip. Banerjee claimed the Election Commission had erroneously marked these living persons as deceased during the SIR process.
"You can see these two gentlemen and a woman. All these people have been declared dead by the EC," Banerjee told the crowd. He further alleged that in the South 24 Parganas district alone, 24 people who are alive have been shown as dead in the electoral rolls.
Confrontation with Election Commission Takes Center Stage
Banerjee made it clear that the party's poll pitch would heavily focus on the SIR exercise. He recounted a recent visit to the EC's office in Delhi, where he claimed to have confronted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. "I asked him to publish the list of Bangladeshis whose names have been deleted. He couldn't do it. Instead, he raised his finger at me," Banerjee stated.
He framed the issue as a battle between elected representatives and nominated officials. "I told him, you (CEC) are nominated, we are elected. Who are you showing aggression to?" Banerjee said, warning that party chairperson Mamata Banerjee might also visit the EC office.
The TMC leader slammed the process of sending notices for SIR hearings, alleging that 1.3 crore people in Bengal had received such legal notices over "logical discrepancies." He drew a parallel to the 2016 demonetisation, saying, "Ten years later, they are making them stand in line for SIR."
Broadside Against BJP: Hindutva, Bhangor, and Beyond
Banerjee used the platform to launch a multi-pronged attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party. He criticized BJP's Hindutva plank, referencing a recent Gita recital event in Kolkata. "They can't even recite one shloka of the Gita properly," he said, citing an incident where a chicken patty seller was allegedly beaten up at the event and the accused were later garlanded by BJP leaders after getting bail.
He also narrated an incident involving two men from the Balurghat Lok Sabha constituency, Asit Sarkar and Gautam Barman, the latter being a BJP booth president. Banerjee claimed they were jailed for seven months in Maharashtra's Bhiwandi for speaking Bengali and received no help from local BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar, despite the party being in power in Maharashtra. "It is Trinamool which legally fought for a BJP booth president and brought him back home," he asserted.
Setting an ambitious electoral target, Banerjee emphasized winning the Bhangor assembly seat to secure all 31 seats in the South 24 Parganas district. "In 2021, we won 214 seats. We will have to win at least one more seat this time... We need to win Bhangar as well," he told supporters, urging them to work tirelessly at the booth level.
Election Commission Seeks Report on Allegations
Responding to the allegations raised at the rally, the Election Commission on Friday sought a report from the South 24 Parganas District Magistrate. An EC official acknowledged that in a large-scale exercise like the SIR, genuine errors can occur during enumeration.
However, the official added, "if it is found these were done deliberately, the booth-level officer (BLO) would be made accountable and will face action." The Commission stated it was examining 10-15 such cases across Bengal but was unaware of the specific number of claims in South 24 Parganas.
The Baruipur rally has firmly placed the controversy surrounding the voter list revision at the forefront of Bengal's political discourse, setting the tone for a heated campaign ahead of the 2026 state polls.
