In a significant organizational move, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is set to conduct a large-scale virtual meeting with more than one lakh of the party's booth-level agents (BLAs). This digital outreach has a sharp focus on 35 critical assembly segments where the victory margin was a narrow 5,000 votes or less during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Strategic Focus on Tight Margins and Voter List Data
The decision to convene this massive gathering stems from an analysis of Election Commission data, which has raised concerns within the party. According to TMC sources, the data reveals a troubling pattern: in 135 out of the state's 294 assembly segments, the number of voters deleted from the rolls exceeded the winning margin recorded in the last parliamentary election. This statistic underscores the high stakes involved in the ongoing voter list revision process for the party's electoral fortunes.
The virtual engagement will be rolled out in two phases. First, Abhishek Banerjee will meet with over 5,000 key party workers on December 26. This will be followed by the main event—the expansive conference with the vast network of more than one lakh booth agents scheduled for December 28.
Following Mamata's Directives on Voter List Vigilance
This schedule comes close on the heels of West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee's address to the BLAs at Kolkata's Netaji Indoor Stadium on Monday. In her speech, she urged the grassroots workers to maintain extreme alertness as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list enters its most critical phase, which involves hearings and the inclusion of new voters.
The party has been actively monitoring the SIR exercise through its dedicated 'Didir Doot' app, which relies on real-time feedback provided by the BLAs on the ground. This tech-enabled approach aims to track every development in the revision process.
The Core Challenge: Voter Verification and Hearings
A detailed explanation from a party source shed light on the nuanced challenges. While an annual deletion rate of 1.5% to 2% due to deceased voters is considered normal, and the current SIR draft reflects a similar figure, the larger issue lies elsewhere.
The SIR deletion list currently contains approximately 59 lakh names, which constitutes about 7.7% of the total electorate. The party source indicated that this scale of deletion is not the primary worry. The real battleground is the massive pool of around 1.7 crore voters who have been flagged for verification due to alleged discrepancies in their details.
"These voters will be called for hearings, and it is here that the BLAs must remain extremely cautious. Every hearing is now important," emphasized the source. The party's strategy is to ensure that no genuine voter is wrongfully excluded during these verification hearings, which could directly impact results in closely contested segments.
This massive mobilization of booth-level agents through virtual means highlights the TMC's focus on micro-level management and data-driven campaigning as it prepares for future electoral challenges, emphasizing the crucial role of the voter list in determining political outcomes.
