Trinamul national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday directed party workers to ensure free and fair Calcutta Municipal Corporation elections on December 19 so that rivals do not get an opportunity to discredit the party, sources said.

Diamond harbour MP Abhishek, along with other senior leaders of Trinamul, held a meeting with the party’s 144 candidates here. “He said anybody who prevents people from casting votes will be thrown out of the party, irrespective of their allegiance to any top leader,” party candidate and former mayor-in-council Tarak Singh said.

According to the sources, Abhishek said Trinamul was in expansion mode outside Bengal and he did not want to give the Opposition any chance to “discredit” the party.

“He was very serious on this point. He clearly said the Opposition, primarily the BJP, should not get any chance to discredit us. This is why he has spoken strictly against intimidating voters on poll day,” a candidate who was present at the meeting said.

Trinamul candidates have also been asked to focus on door-to-door campaign rather than on big public meetings or rallies. Abhishek said families supporting other ideologies or parties, such as the CPM or the BJP, must also be reached out to. If necessary, the candidate must visit households to showcase the work Trinamul has done in 11 years of running the CMC, the candidate added.

Opposition parties tore into Abhishek.

CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said: “Firstly, it is an admission that Trinamul has so far conducted polls forcibly. Secondly, if he actually wants to enforce what he has said, he must throw out those who didn’t allow fair polls in 2019 in the 1,800 booths of his own constituency. Otherwise, it is just another attempt at image makeover for his party.”

State BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu said that if the polls were held fairly, Trinamul would lose. “The electorate is not with Trinamul because of its corrupt ways,” he added.

A Trinamul source said chief minister Mamata Banerjee would hit the streets soon to campaign and would cover four Assembly constituencies —Tollygunge, Jadavpur, Behala East and Behala West — through two public meetings on December 16. The first will be at Baghajatin, followed by another at Behala Chowrasta.