Alleging manipulation, Mamata Banerjee forms panel to resolve voter list issues

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged online manipulation of the voter list in West Bengal and set an ambitious goal of winning the 2026 assembly polls with more seats than 2021.

Banerjee also said that before going to elections in 2026, the voter lists need to be cleaned.

Trinamool Congress had won 214 seats in the 2021 assembly polls.


Banerjee formed a state-level committee to resolve the voter list issue and put a check on the manipulation of the list, alleging that it has been done from Delhi with the help of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The chief minister was addressing a key meeting of the party today in Kolkata.

Hinting at the involvement and carelessness of booth level workers, she said, "I am giving ten days to the Trinamool workers/leaders for examining the voter lists."

Banerjee accused the BJP of adding fake voters from other states to the electoral rolls in Bengal and said, "The names of outsiders have been added to the voter list, so that people of Bengal fail to cast their votes. Outsiders from Bihar, Haryana and other states will be brought to Bengal by trains to win Bengal elections. Those who have left it to data operators, I will catch them red-handed."

She claimed the same tactics have been followed in recent Delhi and Maharashtra elections. "They could not understand the game plan but we understood it," she said. "I respect the ECI. The way the Chief Election Commissioner was appointed has raised doubts. The former secretary of the Union home minister has now been appointed as the CEC. The ECI should be impartial," she said.