With the West Bengal Assembly election results just days away, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will hold a crucial virtual meeting with party counting agents on Saturday to streamline strategy and prevent any lapses during vote counting on May 4.
The meeting, scheduled for 4 pm, will see participation from counting agents across 291 Assembly constituencies where the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) has fielded candidates. The remaining three seats in the Darjeeling hills were contested by the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, led by Anit Thapa.
Senior party leadership is expected to outline responsibilities and protocols for counting day, including vigilance measures once electronic voting machines (EVMs) are unsealed and counting begins.
"The most important instruction to the agents would be to not leave the counting centres till the calculations are officially over and winning certificates handed over to the victors," a senior TMC leader said.
"All unusual activities inside counting centres, like the sudden power cut at the Nandigram counting centre in 2021, must be immediately reported to the party's top brass," he said.
The leader added that in case of any irregular developments, agents would be required to await instructions from the party leadership before taking further steps.
According to party sources, such virtual interactions have been a regular organisational exercise, particularly during electoral roll revisions, when Abhishek Banerjee held multiple meetings with booth-level workers between November and February. However, after the poll announcement in March, similar meetings were led by other leaders, including Mahua Moitra.
As counting day approaches, the TMC leadership is intensifying coordination among ground-level agents. Saturday’s briefing will reportedly cover technical aspects such as counting rounds, handling of EVMs, and adherence to Election Commission protocols.
Agents will also be asked to stay technologically prepared, with the Election Commission of India introducing QR code-based security measures for this counting cycle.
Despite expressing confidence of a "landslide victory", Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly raised concerns over "counting malpractice and EVM tampering ahead of the day of results". She has urged party workers to maintain strict vigilance around strongrooms located inside counting centres.
Responding to these concerns, West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal has maintained that there is no scope for irregularities in the counting process.
Tensions escalated earlier this week when two counting centres in Kolkata witnessed high drama over alleged lack of transparency in strongroom management following the conclusion of polling on April 29. Mamata Banerjee personally visited the Sakhawat Memorial School counting centre, remaining there for nearly four hours.
Separately, TMC leaders Sashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh staged a sit-in outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra counting centre, alleging unauthorised activities in the absence of party agents.
In a sign of heightened preparedness, Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee also held a closed-door strategy meeting at the Chief Minister’s south Kolkata residence on Friday evening, a day ahead of the virtual interaction, as the party fine-tunes its approach for the crucial counting day.
