“This is not the standard expected of a constitutional authority,” West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee tells CEC Gyanesh Kumar on March 31, 2026.
| Photo Credit: ANI
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday (March 31, 2026) wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and accused the Election Commission of India of “undermining the democratic and fundamental rights of the people of Bengal”.
The letter comes amid allegations made by the Trinamool Congress of voter list manipulation ahead of the Assembly elections in the State scheduled on April 23 and 29. Ms. Banerjee referred to “credible reports” and accused the poll body of colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to enrol outsiders as voters in Bengal.
“We are now witnessing what appears to be another coordinated attempt by the BJP, in conjunction with the ECI, to interfere with the democratic rights of the people. Credible reports indicate that large numbers of Form 6 applications are being submitted by BJP agents at the houses of the Chief Electoral Officer and across several districts. These do not seem to be routine applications for voter inclusion but a mischievous ploy to include non-residents in the final voter list,” she said.
Form 6 is used by an individual to register as a new voter.
Also Read: Assembly Election LIVE updates on March 31, 2026
The Chief Minister said that the applications could be from individuals “who are not genuine residents of Bengal and are being imported to tilt the vote share”. “Similar patterns were reportedly observed earlier in Goa, Kerala, Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi,” she said.
Ms. Banerjee urged the poll body to intervene and “put all moves to this end to the standard expected of a constitutional authority.”
She slammed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as “flawed and seemingly targeted”. The Chief Minister said the SIR has “caused severe hardship to millions, pushing many to the brink of disenfranchisement.”
“Tragically, over 200 people have reportedly lost their lives in this process. It is deeply distressing that even such developments have not elicited a more humane and responsive approach from ECI,” she said in the letter.
On Tuesday, a scuffle broke out in Kolkata outside the office of the Chief Electoral Officer between Trinamool-backed booth-level officers and the police over allegations of voter list manipulation. The BLOs said that Form 6 was being used to enrol voters from BJP-ruled States such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh into electoral rolls in West Bengal.
Published – March 31, 2026 05:45 pm IST
