The Trinamool Congress, the CPM and the Congress were on the same page on Sunday, as they attacked the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari for claiming that at least one crore names would be struck off the Bengal electoral rolls after the special intensive revision (SIR) to ensure Mamata Banerjee’s defeat in the 2026 Assembly polls.
“You (party workers) do the SIR work properly. See how big the difference (in 2024 Lok Sabha elections) is between us (BJP) and them (TMC). Despite multiple incidents of violence, we got 2.33 crore votes, while they got 2.75 crore. Write it clearly, once the SIR is over, no matter how much I-PAC (the poll consultancy working for Trinamool) keeps packing things up — whether they turn a father into a father-in-law or a father-in-law into a father — one crore names will be confirmed for removal,” said Adhikari at a rally in East Midnapore’s Contai.
“There will be no dead names, no fake voters, no double or triple entries,” added the Nandigram MLA.
Adhikari also launched an audaciously communal speech urging Hindus to unite against Mamata Banerjee.
“I request you (Hindus) not to divide yourselves. If there are 100 Sanatani (Hindu) voters, please ensure that 99 cast their votes for the Lotus. The Hindus who have come from Bangladesh are not infiltrators; they are refugees. They will stay. It is the Bangladeshi Muslims and the Rohingya who will flee,” said Adhikari.
“The EC has poured carbolic acid into the hole, and they (Bangladeshi Muslims and the Rohingya) are fleeing in swarms,” he added.
“I say there’s no need to put them in jail. You (infiltrators) should just flee. Otherwise, what happened in Assam, what the BJP did in UP and Gujarat — if a BJP government comes here, we won’t keep infiltrators either,” he said.
Trinamool wasted no time in returning fire.
“Adhikari has actually set a target for the Election Commission, dictating it to remove one crore names. Since they will not get the votes of people of Bengal, they are trying to eliminate those who are not their voters through the SIR. Let them dream of winning Bengal with the help of the EC; the people of Bengal are ready to show them the exit gate,” said Trinamool spokesperson Arup Chakraborty.
Congress chief spokesperson for Bengal, Soumya Aich Roy, criticised Adhikari for his claim. “Has the EC informed him (Adhikari) that one crore names would be deleted? Should we then consider that the EC has been working under the instruction of Suvendu Adhikari and his party? It is your home minister under whom infiltrators entered,” said Aich Roy, who claimed both the BJP and Trinamool were spreading panic over SIR.
CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty echoed Aich Roy.
A source said the BJP was on the back foot amid back-to-back deaths of booth-level officers, especially as Trinamool has been raising the issue of the unprecedented workload faced by the BLOs.
BJP leaders accused Mamata of spreading panic. “Though the failed chief minister Mamata Banerjee sheds dramatic crocodile tears over the deaths of BLOs, they know she is the face of mental torture, pressure and fear for the BLOs,” BJP leader Sukanta Majumdar wrote on social media.