Just weeks before the 2026 Assembly Elections in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee has launched a scathing attack on the BJP and the Election Commission, alleging a massive “voter list manipulation.” Following a high-profile meeting with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Monday, Banerjee claimed that the BJP is attempting to hijack the elections not through EVMs, but by tampering with the electoral rolls. “The real match is being played in the voter list, using algorithms and software to disenfranchise native voters,” he alleged.

The focal point of the controversy is the submission of ‘Form 6’ (application for new voters). Abhishek Banerjee claimed that over 30,000 Form 6 applications were illegally submitted at the CEO’s office within a span of just 6-7 hours. According to EC guidelines, no single person can submit more than 50 forms, but Banerjee alleged that truckloads of forms belonging to residents of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are being pushed into the Bengal list. He shared a video on social media showing stacks of boxes filled with these forms inside the CEO’s office and demanded the immediate release of 24-hour CCTV footage.

Accusing the BJP of trying to change the state’s demography, the TMC leader warned that the ruling party in Bengal would not sit idle while “democracy is being murdered.” He stated that the same tactics used in Maharashtra and Delhi are being replicated here to defeat Mamata Banerjee. On the flip side, the BJP has retaliated by petitioning the EC, accusing the TMC of intimidating voters. As the high-decibel campaigning officially intensifies from April 1, this war over the integrity of the voter list has set the stage for a fierce and litigious legal battle between the state’s top political giants.