The Trinamool Congress alleged the BJP’s internal assessment on its prospects in next year’s Bengal Assembly polls was the reason why the Election Commission is pushing for the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.

“The latest internal survey of the BJP has given the party 46-49 seats in Bengal. This (special intensive revision) is their desperate attempt to swing matters in their favour,” said Trinamool’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien addressing a news conference in Delhi on Saturday.

The Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had this week in a public speech predicted below 50 seats for the BJP in Bengal.

“Whatever our general secretary said was based on these figures. We are privy to the information,” claimed O’Brien.

The Election Commission in a letter to the chief electoral officer of Bihar had called for a special intensive revision of the electoral rolls, which has sparked the fear of National Register of Citizens (NRC) being pushed through another route.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was quick to pick up the issue and claimed that the target was Bengal which will go to polls next year.

EC has mandated different levels of document verification on the basis of the Citizenship Act, 1955. The booth-level officers will be given pre-filled enumeration forms with additional data to be provided by the voters including documented proof of the parents’ date of birth and place of birth.

This is mandatory for those born after July 1 1987.

“Is the Election Commission really the EC or a branch office of the BJP?” asked O’Brien. “Before the 2021 Bengal polls, CAA was introduced, but the BJP lost. And now before 2026, they are trying to do the same. Political parties can conduct surveys, but do not get caught,” said O’Brien.

The EC has gone ahead with the drive in poll-bound Bihar and the Trinamool and anti-BJP parties in the state are convinced the BJP has a dubious motive behind the drive.

“This is scare-mongering. This is a strategy. In the 11 bypolls held in Bengal in the last one year, we have won seven seats with huge margins. Seats the BJP had won or was leading have reversed. We are not a party that flies before elections,” O’Brien said.

After Mamata had flagged the issue of duplicate voters in Bengal and other north Indian states, the EC had announced by April 30 the issue would be sorted.

“We want to know what the EC has resolved. We asked for appointments, but were denied,” claimed O’Brien.

The Trinamool alleged the special intensive revision was similar to the ancestor pass issued in 1935 under Nazi Germany.

“Is this the new version of the Nazi ancestor pass? Where do we go from here?” asked O’Brien.

Under the new mandate those born before 1987 will have to provide their birth certificates. Those born between 1987 and 2004 will have to provide their own birth certificates as well as those of their parents.

“Do we all keep the birth certificates of our parents? What about the poor and migrant labourers? How will they get this? This is a conspiracy. This is an attempt to push forward the BJP’s agenda. The BJP and the ECI will take away the voting rights of the citizens of India,” said Sagarika Ghose, the Trinamool’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha. “The BJP is using the backdoor to introduce NRC in Bihar in the name of special intensive revision.”

Trinamool Congress said the INDIA bloc parties will raise the issue inside the Parliament and outside.

“This government suffers from Parliament phobia. We cannot wait for the Parliament session. There is still good coordination among the INDIA bloc parties,” said O’Brien.