Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will hold a mega rally in the second week of November to activate the party’s rank and file over the proposed special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of next year’s crucial Assembly elections.
“It (the rally) is likely to be held on November 11 or a date close to it. The party has already given primary training to its rank and file, particularly those who will act as booth-level agents. Once the SIR is announced, the party wants to motivate its workers and leaders on the ground to ensure no legitimate voter is left out of the electoral roll,” said a senior Trinamool Congress leader.
“It is yet to be confirmed whether the party’s chairperson Mamata Banerjee would also be present in the mega rally in Calcutta,” the leader added.
Abhishek reportedly told his close circle that the party was not worried about the proposed SIR in Bengal but would put its best foot forward to ensure that no misuse of the pocess took place in the state.
“Abhishek believes that even if the names of one crore voters (as claimed by multiple BJP leaders) are deleted from the electoral rolls, Trinamool’s vote share would not change at all. However, the party will be on the ground to ensure that no legitimate voter is excluded from the list,” said a source close to Abhishek.
A Trinamool leader said that whatever the number of names are deleted from the electoral there would be voters of every political party, including the BJP, not only the Trinamool.
“People are already afraid of the SIR exercise, and it would go in favour of Trinamool, which has been opposing the move since Day One,” he said.
A Trinamool source said that Abhishek had correctly assessed the situation, adding that in Bengal, the SIR would not be similar to what people witnessed in Bihar.
“Here, Trinamool is the ruling dispensation, unlike in Bihar, where the BJP is in power. During the SIR, booth-level agents (BLAs) will play a pivotal role, and the BJP’s current organisational situation cannot afford to provide BLAs in at least 40 per cent of the polling booths,” said a Trinamool source.
Secondly, Abhishek has told the party’s top leaders that once the draft roll is published, the party’s rank and file will visit each household in nearly 90,000 booths to ensure that the names of every household member are included in the list.
“The party will not protest the deletion of fake names from the list but will take on the Election Commission if any legitimate voter is left out of the roll,” a source in Trinamool said.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, Trinamool secured 2,87,35,420 votes (47.94 per cent), while the BJP got 2,28,50,710 votes (38.10 per cent) of the total polled votes — a difference of 58,84,710 votes.
In the 2024 general elections, Trinamool received 2,75,64,561 votes (45.76 per cent) and the BJP got 2,33,27,349 votes (38.73 per cent), with a difference of 42,37,212 votes between them.
BJP leaders believe that there are at least 40 lakh voters who are either dead, have shifted, or are married women who have changed constituencies — and that Trinamool misuses those entries.
“We have to get 15 lakh more votes than what we obtained in the 2024 elections to come to power in Bengal,” a BJP leader quoted Suvendu Adhikari as saying recently.
“If the Election Commission of India conducts the SIR properly in Bengal, the election game will slip out of Trinamool’s hands this time. The SIR will be the semi-final for next year’s elections,” the leader added.
Political analysts, however, believe that Abhishek’s logic is apparently correct, as he understands that the consolidated minority vote bank, the votes of beneficiaries of schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar, and the advantage of a stronger organisation will help the TMC counter the impact of the SIR.
“Trinamool Congress top leadership, including Abhishek Banerjee, is logically right about the impact of the SIR. He knows well that around 120 seats — where the minority community decides the electoral outcome — are in TMC’s pocket if there is no split in the consolidated vote bank. Besides, there are the votes of beneficiaries of various welfare schemes and the advantage of a stronger organisation compared to the BJP. So, TMC believes these cumulative factors will be enough for the party to win a fourth consecutive term,” said political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty.
“On the other hand, if a significant number of names are deleted from the electoral roll during the SIR, it would help the BJP boost the morale of its rank and file, as they would certainly campaign that most of the fake voters’ names were deleted,” he added.
CEOs’ conference
The Election Commission has called an urgent meeting of the chief electoral officers of all the states from 3pm on Wednesday. The conference would continue till lunch hours on Thursday. Though the letter mentioned that the conference would be on the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, none in the poll panel confirmed whether SIR schedules would be finalised following the conference.
“It can be said that the conference has been called hurriedly. The CEOs were asked to be present in Delhi with a senior officer in charge of electoral rolls, as well as the media coordinator in the respective states. The letter reached the office of the CEOs on Tuesday. It is clear that the conference is urgent and important announcements can be expected after the conference,” said a source in the poll panel.
Additional reporting by Pranesh Sarkar