Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (EC) on Saturday, demanding the immediate publication of a list containing the names of 1.36 crore voters in West Bengal who were flagged for having "logical discrepancies" in their enumeration forms.
Accusations of Secrecy and a Threat of Protest
Banerjee questioned the EC's transparency, asking why the list has not been made public if the commission's intention was to clean the electoral rolls. He pointed out that the draft electoral roll was published on December 16, and the EC had simultaneously announced the figure of 1.36 crore forms with discrepancies.
"Where is this list? Why is the EC not publishing this list?" Banerjee demanded. He challenged the commission, stating, "They had alleged that there were one crore Rohingya and Bangladeshis in Bengal. Then they should release the list of illegal immigrants." The TMC leader announced his plan to travel to Delhi on December 31 to meet the Chief Election Commissioner and seek answers. He warned that if the list is not released, his party would gherao (surround) the EC office.
Dissecting the "Logical Discrepancy" Data
The controversy stems from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state. Four days before the draft roll's publication, the EC stated that 1.67 crore enumeration forms had "logical discrepancies." Out of these, officials identified around 85 lakh voters whose parents' names did not match with the records from the 2002 electoral list, the last time such an exercise was undertaken.
Banerjee raised procedural doubts, asking how the EC arrived at the final figure of 1.36 crore discrepancies just hours after the draft roll was published, when booth-level officers took nearly a month to complete the field process. He escalated his allegations by claiming that an EC official, whom he named as Seema Khanna, had privately admitted that the "logical discrepancy" figure was incorrect. "I have the screenshots of the messages," Banerjee asserted, daring the official to file a case against him if he was lying and vowing to submit the evidence to the Supreme Court.
Allegations of Political Targeting and Human Cost
The MP accused the BJP-led central government of selectively targeting West Bengal for the past four years. He linked the SIR process to the earlier National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam, claiming a severe human toll. "Many people have lost their lives from fear of SIR and NRC," Banerjee said. He further alleged that five Booth Level Officers (BLOs) died by suicide and 35 others attempted suicide due to pressure related to the SIR work, a claim reportedly made by their families.
Banerjee argued that if the objective of the SIR was to identify illegal immigrants, then the list must be made public for verification. He also questioned the selective application of the SIR, asking why it was not conducted in northeastern states like Meghalaya and Mizoram, which share borders with Bangladesh, or in states like Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland bordering Myanmar, if the goal was to identify Rohingya or Bangladeshi immigrants.
He reiterated that the EC must share the list with all political parties for scrutiny, revealing that the TMC has already found a list of 100 voters, including a Trinamool councillor in Dankuni municipality, who were incorrectly marked as deceased in the draft rolls.
