The Election Commission is yet to clear the air on a special intensive revision (SIR) in Bengal, ahead of next year’s Assembly polls.
The central poll panel’s decision to add nearly 14,000 new polling booths in the state, and expanding the number of polling stations from the existing 80,000 to an estimated 94,000, gives an indication that chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s worst fears could be true.
The Election Commission is holding an all-party meeting where the increase in polling booths and polling stations is likely to come up.
The move is equally worrisome for the Bengal BJP which faces a shortage of Booth Level Agents (BLAs), exposing a critical organisational gap that could weaken its 2026 poll challenge.
The BJP functionaries acknowledge they are planning to cover only about 70 per cent of booths with BLAs during the SIR exercise, well short of what is needed to ensure an effective presence statewide, reported PTI.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP could deploy polling agents in around 50,000-55,000 of West Bengal’s existing 80,681 booths. The target now stands at 65,000-70,000, but insiders admit the party may struggle to get anywhere close.
“This time, the figure of BLAs will be higher during the SIR exercise… it is a challenge for us in the booths where we are not able to appoint a BLA,” a senior state BJP leader told PTI on condition of anonymity.
West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya insisted that the party would cover “maximum number of booths.”
“In booths where there are challenges, we will chalk out a strategy to overcome those challenges. Right now, I won’t divulge how many BLAs we have, as it’s an organisational matter,” he told PTI.
BLAs work alongside Booth Level Officers (BLOs), government staff tasked with compiling accurate rolls. The agents collect and submit enumeration forms, flag names of deceased or shifted voters, and mobilise citizens to check draft rolls.
Another BJP leader admitted that redeploying booth presidents as agents may be unavoidable.
“We may be forced to do it. But it will weaken us when the real election comes,” the leader said.
The party’s struggle is most acute in minority-dominated areas spread across districts of Malda, Murshidabad, South Dinajpur and North Dinajpur, which account for about 20 per cent of the total booths.
“In minority areas, finding a party cadre as BLA is a real challenge. We have to ensure safety and security of our cadres first,” said a BJP functionary.
In contrast, the TMC has built a dense booth-level network, over the past 14 years.
Much of it is a remnant of the CPM’s famed organisational network with hundreds of defections across rank and file during the period of 2011 to 2021.
Model booth management style of both the parties included sports tournaments, festivals, door to door canvassing throughout the year. And poll strategist Prashant Kishore took micro management to another level by introducing programmes like Duare Sarkar et al.
A wary Mamata is not allowing any complacency on the part of her party supporters.
"You must yourself check whether your names are still there or have been struck off from the voters' list... You must ensure you have Aadhaar cards," Mamata told a rally of the TMC's students' wing in Kolkata on Thursday. "I will not let anyone take away people's voting rights till I am alive," she added.
Banerjee also alleged that the EC was intimidating state government officers.
"The EC is threatening our officers. Its jurisdiction is only for the three months during elections, not throughout the year," she claimed.
Party’s general secretary Abhishek Banerjee told the rally that if even one person is denied their right, then 10 crore Bengalis will march to Delhi, gherao Rajpath, and prove their might.
The Trinamool has wielded a cudgel against EC since the SIR in Bihar started.
BJP believes that the TMC opposition to SIR is the fear of losing voters as the process will purportedly weed out infiltrators and cleanse the system.
The Election Commission had sought details of BLAs from all political parties a year before the polls were to be held. A plea by former Trinamool Rajya Sabha MP Subhashish Chakraborty challenging the EC’s demand was dismissed by the Calcutta High Court earlier this month.