The BJP’s youth front will organise a march in Calcutta on April 2 to urge the Election Commission of India (ECI) to protect Hindu voters from the Trinamul Congress, a move that signals the saffron camp’s effort to counter Mamata Banerjee’s drive against “ghost voters”.
“The TMC has targeted Hindu voters in bordering districts and Hindi-speaking residents to remove their names from the electoral roll. I invite youths from all spheres, including Matuas and Hindi-speaking residents who have been living in the state for years, to join the march organised by the party’s Yuva Morcha,” said Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition.
BJP Yuva Morcha president Indranil Khan said the march would begin from the party’s headquarters at 6 Murlidhar Sen Lane in the city and end at the office of Bengal’s chief electoral officer (CEO) at B.B.D. Bagh.
“It will be a mega march in the city where we have already invited representatives from all corners of the state to participate,” said Khan.
A BJP source said similar political events would be organised in each district as part of the party’s effort to counter the TMC’s alleged ploy to remove Hindu voters’ names from the electoral roll under the guise of scrutinising the voters’ list.
After the march, Adhikari and other senior leaders will address the gathering, explaining how the TMC allegedly plans to remove the names of Hindu voters who have traditionally opposed Mamata Banerjee’s party.
A team of 10 Yuva Morcha leaders, headed by the Nandigram MLA, will also meet the CEO to highlight concerns about government officials allegedly collaborating with the TMC to deprive Hindus of their electoral rights.
Although the Assembly elections are scheduled for next year, both the BJP and TMC have been actively confronting each other over this electoral issue.
The chief minister had earlier directed Trinamool’s rank and file to scrutinise the voter list, accusing the BJP and the ECI of conspiring to enrol voters from other states to benefit Narendra Modi’s party in the 2026 Assembly elections.
Mamata also alleged that the BJP had won the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Delhi with the help of fake or ghost voters.
Abhishek Banerjee, TMC’s national general secretary and Mamata’s nephew, has formed a parallel organisational setup to repeatedly scrutinise the electoral roll until the 2026 Assembly elections.
Since the TMC began its campaign against ghost voters, BJP leaders have claimed that the true motive is to remove their supporters’ names from the electoral roll, particularly in areas where the BJP performed well in recent polls.
For instance, the BJP recently flagged a case involving 98 voters in Nadia’s Krishnanagar, where the TMC allegedly attempted to remove their names from the electoral roll with the help of the local block development officer.
A BJP source claimed that the TMC had deliberately targeted specific voters who typically favoured the BJP, filing complaints with the ECI to have their entries removed from the electoral rolls.
“If TMC leaders can remove 10 BJP voters from a booth, it could be enough to win the constituency despite the BJP’s stronghold. So, the party wants to prevent the TMC from such actions. The party has also decided to mount pressure on the ECI,” said a BJP insider.
BJP leaders in both Bengal and Delhi have taken up the issue with the ECI.
“Today, there was an all-party meeting in the office of the CEO in Bengal, where our leaders highlighted how the returning officers and assistant returning officers have been working hand in glove with TMC leaders,” said Adhikari.
TMC leaders, however, claimed that the BJP was trying to cover up its alleged conspiracy to win Bengal with the help of fake voters, as exposed by Mamata Banerjee.