Publish list of ‘1.36 cr’ discrepant voters, Abhishek tells ECI
KOLKATA: Alleging that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was being carried out to “harass” the people of Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) publish the list of 1.36 crore voters whose enumeration forms were flagged for “logical discrepancies”. He said he would meet the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on December 31 to raise the issue. Banerjee also questioned the ECI’s decision to deploy micro-observers in West Bengal while not doing so in Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh, claiming that Bengal recorded the lowest percentage of voter deletions during the SIR exercise. Citing figures, Banerjee said West Bengal has around 10.5 crore voters, of whom 58.20 lakh names—about 5.79 per cent—were removed from the draft electoral rolls. In comparison, he said Tamil Nadu saw deletions of 12.57 per cent, Gujarat 9.95 per cent, Chhattisgarh 8.76 per cent and Kerala 6.65 per cent.
“SIR is being used to harass Bengal. You send micro-observers here, but why not to Gujarat? It is being selectively implemented. In most states, the deadline was extended, but not in Bengal,” Banerjee alleged. Accusing the poll panel of acting at the behest of the BJP-led Centre, the TMC leader said the people of Bengal would defeat what he described as repeated attempts by the BJP to manipulate the electoral process. Banerjee announced that from January 2, the party would launch a month-long statewide campaign involving rallies, roadshows and public interactions ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. Referring to the publication of the draft electoral rolls, Banerjee said: “On the day the draft rolls were published, the ECI claimed that 1.36 crore voters had logical discrepancies in their forms. Where is this list? Why is the Commission not publishing it? If there are one crore Rohingyas in Bengal, release the list.”
He said he would meet CEC Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi on December 31 to discuss the alleged discrepancies, accusing the ECI of withholding the “correct list” and functioning in tandem with the BJP. “You are the Election Commission of India, not of the BJP. If you have a list of Bangladeshis, release it. Otherwise, apologise to the people of Bengal,” Banerjee said. He further claimed that an ECI official, whom he identified as Seema Khanna, had admitted in a private chat that the figure of 1.36 crore voters with “logical discrepancies” was erroneous. Banerjee said he possessed screenshots of the messages and that the matter would be raised before the Supreme Court. Banerjee also alleged that during the SIR process, 45 people died, six were hospitalised and about 29 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) attempted suicide. “We asked the ECI five basic questions, but did not get a single answer,” he said. Emphasising the role of political parties in scrutinising electoral data, Banerjee claimed that the TMC had identified at least 100 voters across districts in Bengal who were wrongly marked as dead in the draft rolls.
