A high-level BJP delegation visited the Election Commission’s headquarters in Delhi on Monday and urged chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to bar Mamata Banerjee from election campaigning, accusing her of violating the model code of conduct by issuing direct and veiled threats at her rallies.

“The five states are going to the polls. However, in Bengal, in a bid to hijack the election by curbing democratic rights, the situation has become severe under the leadership of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her TMC leaders. We had a serious discussion over the issue in Bengal, and the entire EC team listened to our demands carefully,” Union minister of parliamentary affairs and minority affairs Kiren Rijiju told reporters after the meeting.

Rijiju was accompanied by his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal and Union minister of state Sukanta Majumdar, along with chief spokesperson for the BJP Anil Baluni and Rajya Sabha member Arun Singh.

This unprecedented demand by the BJP to bar Mamata from campaigning has gained fresh political traction in the poll-bound state following the recent visit of Union home minister Amit Shah, who claimed that Trinamool would lose the election and that the BJP’s coming to power on May 4 was certain.

“We have specifically mentioned how the Bengal chief minister has been threatening people, saying that those who vote for the BJP will not be spared,” Rijiju said.

In a six-page letter submitted to the EC, the BJP mentioned three statements made by the chief minister at different rallies on March 25 and 26. The BJP said those remarks amounted to direct and veiled threats to freedom of political expression and
voters’ autonomy.

“On March 25, 2026, during a public rally at Mainaguri in North Bengal, the Chief Minister reportedly stated that after the elections, citizens would be compelled to display posters outside their homes declaring, ‘I don’t support BJP.’ Such remarks amount to a direct threat to freedom of political expression and voter autonomy,” the
letter reads.

The BJP also referred to Mamata’s comments at rallies in Naxalbari on March 25 and Pandaveswar on March 26, where she allegedly asked women to come out with
whatever they had at home. The BJP said such statements carried a thinly veiled and dangerous implication, encouraging the use of household objects as instruments of physical confrontation.

The party also alleged that such exhortations by Mamata were followed by violent attacks on BJP workers in Basanti.

Besides demanding that Mamata be barred from campaigning, the BJP also sought immediate action against her for violation of the model code of conduct and initiation of legal proceedings under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including the filing of
an FIR.

The delegation also demanded enhanced deployment of central forces in sensitive and vulnerable areas of Bengal ahead of the voting.

The Trinamool Congress, however, claimed that the BJP’s attempt to bar Mamata from campaigning was nothing but a reflection of its fear of defeat.

“They have understood that Mamata Banerjee has started exposing their anti-Bengali acts and wrongdoings. Being afraid, they are now trying to stop her from campaigning. It is unprecedented that the BJP, out of fear, is trying to stop the chief minister of Bengal,” said Trinamool spokesperson Arup Chakraborty.

“However, their efforts, hand in glove with the Election Commission, will not help them avoid defeat in the forthcoming elections, as the people of Bengal are with Mamata Banerjee,” he added.