Since LS polls, over 5L voters added; TMC intensifies ‘cleansing’ drive

Kolkata: The number of voters in Bengal has gone up by 5.58 lakh in the past few months since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections over which the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) expressed concern alleging voter roll discrepancies and removal of genuine voters from the list. It also demanded an effective ‘cleansing’ drive.

A day ahead of a scheduled visit of a 10-member TMC delegation to meet the Chief Election Commissioner in Delhi, the party MP Kalyan Banerjee on Monday raised his voice in Parliament alleging that “faulty” voter list is a serious concern.

He also claimed that the number of voters increased in Bengal in the past few years which did not happen earlier. He also claimed that there were no transparent elections in the country in the past few years even though the Election Commission often claims that they conduct polls in a free and fair manner. Outsiders are coming to Bengal from Gujarat, Haryana, Banerjee alleged further.

It was alleged that around 5,58,387 voters have increased in Bengal since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections which the ruling party in Bengal finds “unusual” and they also believe that it might be an attempt to manipulate the electoral process.

Trinamool leaders accused the BJP of being involved in the process of manipulation. “Ghost voters. Fake EPICs. Mass duplications. @BJP4India’s electoral fraud is finally out in the open, all thanks to Smt. @MamataOfficial. Bengal will not tolerate this daylight robbery of democracy. No undemocratic force will ever be allowed to take root here!” Trinamool Congress said on social media.

Senior Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Roy in Parliament said that his party supremo Mamata Banerjee showed papers on how the same EPIC numbers were used by people from other states. All is not all and there are serious flaws and the electoral rolls should be thoroughly revised, Roy said in Parliament.

“Smt. @MamataOfficial’s exposé on EPIC number duplication has opened up a can of worms.

It raises serious, unanswered questions: How many past elections have been compromised due to this How has a scam of this scale remained undetected for years What concrete steps are being taken to rectify this and restore faith in free and fair elections Demanding accountability, our ten-member delegation will meet @ECISVEEP in Delhi tomorrow,” Trinamool Congress in a post on X said.

It further stated: “Once again, Smt. @MamataOfficial has led the way. She was the first to expose how @BJP4Indiahas been tampering with voter lists across the country to serve its political interests…”

Meanwhile, a local Trinamool Congress councillor in Bongaon in North 24-Parganas found that one person has two EPI cards with two different numbers while two ‘ghost’ voters were identified in Deganga under the same district. Following the instruction of the party supremo, the leaders have been visiting households to physically verify the electoral rolls in all the districts.