Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging large-scale manipulation of electoral rolls and accusing the Election Commission of India (ECI) of failing to address concerns raised by his party, while speaking to reporters outside the ECI office in New Delhi after leading a TMC delegation to meet the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners.
Banerjee alleged that the meeting with the Election Commission was unsatisfactory and confrontational. “We went with 10 to 12 specific questions, but we received no clear answers to most of them,” he said. The Diamond Harbour MP further accused the Chief Election Commissioner of interrupting the delegation and losing his temper during the discussion. “He started pointing fingers and speaking over us. I told him clearly: you are nominated, I am elected,” Banerjee said.
Escalating his criticism, the TMC leader said the CEC should face public scrutiny. “I challenge Gyanesh Kumar to come before the media. He is answerable to his masters, while we are answerable to the people of Bengal,” he said. Banerjee also alleged that Kumar had been “sent on a mission to destroy this institution and our country”, a charge that has further sharpened the political confrontation between the TMC and the poll panel.
Referring to the duration of the meeting, Banerjee claimed that the Chief Election Commissioner dominated the discussion. “The meeting lasted for two-and-a-half hours. I challenge him to release the CCTV footage. He was the only one speaking,” he said.
Raising specific concerns about the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, Banerjee demanded greater transparency from the ECI. “If no theft is happening, then release the logical discrepancy list. During earlier SIR exercises, there was no such ‘suspicious list’,” he said, alleging that the electoral rolls were being “weaponised”.
Claiming that “vote chori” was taking place through voter list manipulation, Banerjee said Opposition parties in other states had failed to detect the issue in time. “Parties like the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party could not catch this in states such as Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana. If they had done so, the BJP would have lost in these states,” he said. Appealing for coordinated action, he added, “I urge like-minded parties to identify and stop the theft being carried out in electoral rolls through software.”
The TMC delegation that met the Election Commission included MPs Derek O’Brien, Kalyan Banerjee, Mamata Thakur, Saket Gokhale, Ritabrata Banerjee and Mohammed Nadimul Haque, along with West Bengal ministers Pradip Mazumdar and Manas Bhunia. The ECI has not yet responded publicly to Banerjee’s allegations. The remarks come amid heightened political tension over electoral roll revisions and accusations of institutional bias ahead of upcoming elections.
