“Why not discuss…” Rahul Gandhi Joins TMC, Calls for Discussion on “Faulty Voter List” in Lok Sabha Following Mamata Banerjee's Allegations

Congress leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi on Monday threw his weight behind the Trinamool Congress (TMC) demand for a discussion in the Lok Sabha on the “faulty voter list.” The first day of the Budget session kicked off in turmoil after TMC MP Sougata Roy raised concerns about discrepancies in the voter rolls, which had been flagged by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on February 27.

During a party meeting in Kolkata, Banerjee claimed that multiple voter identities were being duplicated across state lines, with voters from Bengal sharing EPIC numbers with individuals from states like Haryana, Gujarat, and Punjab. The Chief Minister accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating this voter duplication scheme in collaboration with the Election Commission of India (ECI), suggesting that it was part of a larger strategy to import voters from outside the state to influence the outcome of the upcoming 2026 Bengal elections. Banerjee further alleged that this tactic had been used in previous state elections, including in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Delhi, all of which were landslide victories for the BJP.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Sougata Roy demanded a thorough investigation into the issue. “All is not well here. There are serious flaws. Our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has exposed these discrepancies, and this issue has been raised before—during elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Assam, and Delhi. Now they are trying to do the same in Bengal. The entire voter list should be revised to address these mistakes. The Election Commission has informed our party that they will update us in three months. We hope the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), who has previously worked alongside Amit Shah, will handle this matter impartially,” Roy said.
His comments prompted Speaker Om Birla to interject, asking, “Is the voter list prepared by the government?”

This remark from the Speaker elicited a sharp reaction from the opposition, with several MPs insisting that the issue be debated in the House. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi then joined the fray, echoing the call for a united opposition demand.

“You are right, Mr. Speaker, the government doesn’t prepare the voter list. Therefore, there should be no objection to discussing this matter in the House. The faulty voter list is a serious issue, and it has been proven beyond doubt that such discrepancies played a pivotal role in the outcomes of the Maharashtra and Haryana elections. We need a full discussion on this matter in the House,” Gandhi said.

Concerns about voter list irregularities had previously been raised following the Maharashtra assembly elections, where the BJP emerged as the single largest party, securing 132 seats—a stark contrast to the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which had occurred just six months prior. In the Lok Sabha elections, Congress had secured the highest number of seats, while the BJP was reduced to single digits, with just 9 seats. However, in the assembly elections, Congress, along with its allies Shiv Sena UBT and the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP), was left far behind, while the BJP surged ahead. At the time, Congress and its allies had alleged manipulation of the voter list, claiming it gave the BJP an undue advantage.​