TMC will win more seats than 2021 polls: Abhishek
Kolkata: Launching the Trinamool Congress’s (TMC) month-long ‘Abar Jitbe Bangla’ campaign from Baruipur in South 24-Parganas on Friday, party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee asserted that the ruling party would improve its 2021 Assembly tally by at least one seat in the 2026 elections.
“In 2021, we won 214 seats. This time, we must win at least one more. I want a promise that one additional seat will come from South 24-Parganas,” Banerjee told a large gathering. He said the party would also aim to win the Bhangar seat to make it a clean sweep of all 31 Assembly constituencies in the district.
“To achieve this, we will have to work tirelessly. I am ready to go to any booth,” he said, adding that Baruipur was chosen to launch the campaign as Kalighat is his birthplace and South 24-Parganas his ‘karmabhumi’.
On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Banerjee again targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, questioning how the Election Commission would respond if Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee intensified protests in Delhi.
“When I visited the ECI office, I asked for the list of Bangladeshis whose names were deleted. He could not provide it. We have shown what it means to be a Bengali. Abhishek Banerjee has gone, Mamata Banerjee will go too. Then who will save you?” he said.
During the rally, Banerjee produced three individuals—Manirul Molla and Maya Das from Metiabruz, and Harekrishna Giri from Kakdwip—claiming they were wrongly shown as deceased in the SIR draft rolls.
“I will make three ‘ghosts’ walk on the ramp,” he said. “These people have been declared dead by the Election Commission. In this district alone, 24 living persons have been shown dead to stop them from voting.”
Following the meeting, the Election Commission of India sought a report from the District Electoral Officer. Banerjee alleged that the BJP was behind the “unplanned” SIR exercise, claiming it had “led to the deaths of many people” due to harassment. He said the ECI had published the draft electoral rolls on December 16, deleting over 58 lakh names on grounds including death and migration.
He also claimed that two persons from BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar’s Balurghat Constituency, including a BJP booth president, were arrested in Maharashtra for speaking Bengali, and claimed that the Trinamool Congress intervened to secure their release.
Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Banerjee said the BJP had failed to deliver on its promise of two crore jobs annually. “If the government can prove that even 5,000 jobs were created in a single Assembly Constituency, I will quit politics,” he asserted.
On attacks on chicken patty sellers during a Gita recital programme, Banerjee said BJP leaders had garlanded the accused after they were released on bail. “People of Bengal don’t need lessons on Hindutva from those who beat a poor man for selling chicken patties,” he said. He also criticised Union Home minister Amit Shah’s ‘Shonar Bangla’ promise, questioning governance in BJP-ruled states.
Banerjee said he would tour Alipurduar on Saturday, followed by visits to Birbhum on January 6, Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur on January 7, and Malda on January 8 to ensure no genuine voter is excluded during the SIR process.
