Abhishek vows restoration of deleted voters in a month of TMC’s victory; Sets a target of 22-0 sweep in Murshidabad

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday promised that the voting rights of disenfranchised citizens will be restored within a month after Mamata Banerjee returns to power.

On the restoration of voter rights, Banerjee, from election rallies, assured those dropped from electoral rolls would get their voting rights back within one month of the “Ma Mati Manush” government taking charge on May 4.

“You are citizens of this country, citizens of this state. No one should be worried or panicked,” he said.

He also accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and politician Humayun Kabir are like three “agencies” of BJP, who are allegedly working to undermine people and strengthen the saffron party in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. He was addressing a rally in the same district.

He accused the CEC Kumar of “taking away voting rights” of the poor under the guise of logical discrepancies in electoral rolls, and warned that a weakened TMC would hurt them more than the party. “If the TMC is weak in this soil, the loss for you (locals) is much more than the loss for TMC,” he said.

Referring to a viral video allegedly showing the Aam Janata Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir demanding Rs 1,000 crore, Banerjee said: “Not for the mothers and brothers of Murshidabad, not for roads, not for housing, but to put in his own pocket. He further claimed the purported video showed Kabir describing Muslims as “very foolish” and easily misled. He also dismissed Kabir’s claim that the video was AI-generated and asked, “If it is an AI-generated video, why did Pirzada Khobayeb Amin resign? And why did Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM leave your side?”

In Refereference to the Bangladesh unrest, Banerjee asked Modi to clarify the status of Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in Delhi since August 2024. “Hasina has been given shelter in Delhi by you. Is she an infiltrator or a refugee?” he asked. On the BJP’s poll promises, Banerjee claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pledged Rs 2,500 per month to women if the party won in Delhi, but “not a paisa” had reached beneficiaries even after 14 months.

Targeting a 22-0 sweep in Murshidabad, up from the party’s 20-0 result in 2021, Banerjee took personal responsibility for the district’s development, citing several projects he described as “repayment for the debt of love”.