Countering chief minister Mamata Banerjee's belligerent attack on Union home minister Amit Shah and the Election Commission of India, the BJP's Amit Malviya, who heads the party's IT cell and is the party's Bengal co-minder, has dubbed her as "a threat to democracy".
Taking to X, Malviya wrote: "Mamata Banerjee = Threat to Indian Democracy. From shielding goons and corrupt officials to defending fake voter data manipulation in Moyna, Baruipur Purba, and beyond — Mamata Banerjee is no longer just turning a blind eye. She is now leading the assault on fair and free elections."
"Despite clear directives from the Election Commission of India (ECI) to register FIRs against EROs and AEROs for inserting fake voters, Bengal’s Chief Minister refuses to comply. Instead, she openly defies the EC...," Malviya said, calling it a "constitutional crisis in the making."
"The system is broken. The law is mocked. Democracy is under threat. Let’s be clear: The future of Bengal will be decided by Bengalis — not Bangladeshi Muslims or Rohingyas," Malviya said.
A BJP leader said that the party wanted to observe how the EC would react to Mamata’s refusal to comply with its order to take action — suspension and FIRs — against four Bengal officials accused of inserting fictitious names in the electoral rolls in two Assembly constituencies.
From a political rally in Jhargram on Wednesday, Mamata confronted the EC, declaring that she would protect her officials and not follow the directive to take action against them. She went on to accuse the EC of working at the behest of the BJP.
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, currently in New Delhi, said: "The Election Commission will look into the matter. It is a constitutional body. We want an electoral roll free from the Rohingya, bogus names and dead persons from the EC."
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the EC should assess the ground situation in Bengal.
“Mamata Banerjee today challenged the Election Commission. I won’t say much on this. We, the 11 crore people of Bengal, are in pain. Now let the Election Commission understand what kind of chief minister Bengal has,” Adhikari said in Barasat, North 24-Parganas, where he led a march demanding justice for the daughters of Bengal.
A BJP leader said Mamata certainly knew she couldn't defy the EC's directive, and her statement was intended to boost the morale of her officials.
“Tuesday’s EC order had a serious impact on a section of state government officials who were already considering not implementing various ‘illegitimate’ instructions from the state government. So, the chief minister made a desperate public statement to show that her government stands with them. She knows she would face serious issues if the bureaucracy’s morale dips,” he alleged.
BJP state president Bhattacharya interpreted Mamata’s criticism of the EC — accusing it of being “bonded labour” of the BJP — as a sign that the ruling dispensation in Bengal was rattled by the proposed SIR ahead of the 2026 polls.
“The SIR is already being conducted in Bihar and panic has gripped Bengal even before the process has begun here, because the entire electoral roll is tainted. The Trinamool is panicking as they are hearing warning bells from the upcoming SIR,” added Bhattacharya.
CPM, Cong charge
The other Opposition parties in Bengal, the CPM and the Congress, accused both the BJP and Trinamool of trying to “rig” the voter list for their vested interests.
"The state must follow the order of the EC. The way the chief minister has been threatening staff involved in electoral work is condemnable. Moreover, the BJP, through the EC, has been issuing veiled threats to them. We fear that the election process could be affected by these two-way threats," said CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty.
Congress chief spokesperson in Bengal, Soumya Aich Roy said: “The chief minister is trying to safeguard fake voters to win the election fraudulently. We see both the BJP and Trinamool on the same page. The former wants to remove genuine voters, while the latter wants to retain fake and dead voters.”
