Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday elaborately outlined the role of the Trinamool Congress’s rank and file during the proposed special intensive revision (SIR), which the party sees as a BJP-led conspiracy — similar to what happened in Bihar — to remove voters’ names in collusion with the Election Commission.

“Identify booth-level officers (BLOs), who are found working in a biased manner for any political party, and immediately report their details and areas to the state unit. You must monitor whether the BLOs are visiting households or are involved in any conspiracy to remove the names of bona fide voters. If any undemocratic activity is found, inform the district leaders, who will, in turn, inform either Subrata Bakshi (state president) or my office without delay,” a senior Trinamool leader quoted Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek as saying during a virtual meeting with around 9,000 party leaders, including all MLAs and MPs.

BLOs are government employees appointed by the Election Commission for electoral roll revision and other election-related duties at the booth level. During the SIR process, BLOs will play a crucial role in identifying ineligible voters whose names will be removed from the electoral roll. Therefore, Trinamool views it as vital for its grassroots workers to scrutinise the actions of BLOs, suspecting that the main aim of the SIR is to remove voters’ names, especially from areas where Mamata Banerjee’s party enjoys strong support.

“Go door to door and ask voters who live outside the area to return and visit their respective booths. Ensure they fill out the enumeration form and that their names are included in the electoral roll during the SIR. You must tell them that failing to do so may result in their names being removed from the voter list — and that the BJP would send them to Bangladesh,” Abhishek added.

The Diamond Harbour MP also emphasised the role of grassroots Trinamool leaders during the SIR, instructing them to ensure that booth-level agents (BLAs) accompanied BLOs during household visits to prevent malpractice. A BLA is a political party representative allowed to accompany the BLO during the electoral roll revision process.

“BLAs must visit all households with the BLOs,” Abhishek reportedly said.

A Trinamool source said that, concerned about the role of booth-level leaders and BLAs during the SIR, Abhishek had instructed district leadership to replace party workers in those posts in booths where the party had trailed by 100 or more votes in the 2021 and 2024 elections. However, he left it to the discretion of district leaders to retain a few individuals in those positions if they were capable of performing better when given another chance.

The Diamond Harbour MP also reminded leaders that many BLOs had a background in the CPM and had traditionally been opposed to Trinamool. He urged Trinamool members to keep a special watch on such BLOs to see whether they were assisting other political parties.

“Once districts report these BLOs, the party will file complaints against them with the Election Commission. He also instructed us to look for fictitious names, such as ‘Tractor’ or ‘Dog’, in the electoral rolls, citing examples from Bihar. He warned that the BJP was trying to include fake names or the names of outsiders in the rolls,” a senior Trinamool leader in Calcutta added.

Mamata’s nephew urged the leaders to launch a campaign focusing on three key topics: The SIR and NRC notices served on many Bengal residents; the BJP’s “Bengali phobia” (including the denial of ₹1.75 lakh crore in central funds), and the recently launched state government initiative “Amader Para, Amader Samadhan”.