Abhishek Banerjee on Friday set a high-stakes target for the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly polls, vowing to surpass its 2021 landslide seat-count of 214 by at least one, not long before Suvendu Adhikari's claim of a tally of 220 in the House if Hindus united optimally.

"In 2021, we won 214 seats. We will have to win at least one more seat this time,” the Trinamool Congress national general secretary told a rally at Baruipur in South 24-Parganas, where he formally launched the Abar Jitbe Bangla (Bengal will win again) mass outreach initiative.

Specifically for the key district of South 24-Parganas, from where he has been a three-term Lok Sabha member, Mamata Banerjee's nephew set a cent per cent target for Trinamool.

“Make it 31 out of 31 in this district... ensure that the margin of victory of Trinamool is not less than 50,000 in any seat,” he said to loud cheers from his vast audience.

Trinamool had won 30 in 2021, except Bhangar, which went to the Left-Congress-backed ISF's Nawsad Siddique, and led in all 31 in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Abhishek and his aunt are banking heavily on a sweep in the densely populated, largely urban, semi-urban districts of South 24-Parganas and North 24-Parganas, besides Calcutta proper, to deal a body blow to the BJP's chances of seizing power. Of the 33 seats in North 24-Parganas, Trinamool won 29 in 2021, and led in 25 in 2024.

Of Calcutta's 11, Trinamool won all in 2021, and led in nine in the Lok Sabha election.

"In these 75 seats of the three districts, if we can ensure victories in 65 seats where we led even in the Lok Sabha election, we break the BJP's back," said a senior in Trinamool, privy to Abhishek's plans.

"A cosmopolitan, pluralist-inclusive electorate (with substantial minority presence) that views the Hindutva brigade with derision or trepidation, this core cluster is one-fourth of the Assembly, which takes us to nearly half the majority mark (148). Abhishek believes if we play our cards right in these three districts, our total might get past 240," he added. "He will work tirelessly over the next few months to ensure that."

Trinamool currently has 225 in a 292-seat House (with two vacancies).

At the campaign launch on Friday, the Diamond Harbour MP tore into the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list in poll-bound Bengal as a high-tech conspiracy to disenfranchise vast sections of Bengal. He alleged that the BJP, in cahoots with the Election Commission of India (ECI) under the "dubiously favoured" Gyanesh Kumar, was attempting to curb the rights of the people through AI-driven "vote chori (theft)".

To underscore the alleged blunders — deliberate and inadvertent — in the indubitably rushed exercise, Abhishek brought the "walking dead" on his ramp at the rally, presenting to the audience Monirul Islam Molla, Harikrishna Giri, and Maya Das, whom he said the commission had declared "dead" in the draft roll.

“These gentlemen are from the Metiaburuz Assembly constituency and the lady from Kakdwip Assembly constituency. They were declared dead by the ECI,” he said.

He linked the "unplanned" SIR to the nearly 60 Bengal deaths — the total comprising some booth-level officers as well — allegedly linked to the exercise and its anxiety or workload, including some suicides.

“In the notebandi of 2016, they made people stand in line for demonetisation. Ten years later, they are making you stand in line for SIR. Press the EVM button in a way which ensures such decision-makers, those who tried to have you unmapped, are eliminated from the Bengal map," said the Trinamool national general secretary.

Abhishek dared Kumar and his alleged master, Union home minister Amit Shah, warning them of a Delhi siege by Mamata-led Trinamool.

“Be ready, Vanish (Gyanesh) Kumar... our supreme leader (Mamata) is coming. We are coming to Delhi. If even a third of our workers and supporters go to Delhi, Gyanesh Kumar and Amit Shah will float away,” he said.

Reaffirming his stance against Kumar's aggression at their meeting at Nirvachan Sadan earlier this week, he added: “You are nominated, we are elected. I asked Gyanesh Kumar to publish the list of Bangladeshis, whose names have been deleted. He couldn’t do it.”

The vote chori narrative — generated in the Congress and popularised by India's leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi — remained the thematic anchor of the Trinamool Number Two's speech. Abhishek claimed that the real manipulation in Indian elections was no longer happening at the polling booth and in the electronic voting machines, but in the backend, AI-powered software used for electoral roll revisions.

“I appeal to all, the vote chori is happening in the voter list... you don't know what algorithm, software they are using to disenfranchise people. They are trying to weaponise the electoral roll,” he asserted.

Abhishek said he would fight on the ground like a dedicated soldier of chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

"They brought the SIR. The people will electorally file against them an FIR," Abhishek added. "Gyanesh Kumar had dared to wag his finger at me. Sitting in Delhi, I made sure he understood what a Bengali is. After this, Mamata Banerjee will go."