Kolkata: Following the instruction of the Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, her party leaders on Saturday started a door-to-door campaign to scrutinise the electoral rolls with the city’s Mayor Firhad Hakim personally carrying out the voter list verification drive in the Chetla area of south Kolkata.
The verification drive was carried out by party workers in other places as well, as instructed by Banerjee. Trinamool Congress (TMC) claimed that several individuals from other states were found to have been registered under the same EPIC number of genuine voters of Bengal. Banerjee on last Thursday brought allegations of voter list manipulation against the BJP ahead of 2026 assembly polls in Bengal.
Echoing the voice of Banerjee, Hakim on Saturday told the media: “The BJP is trying to manipulate the electoral rolls by bringing in fake voters from other states. So, along with our party workers, we are on a door-to-door visit to verify the voter list.” Local party leaders were also busy in a similar exercise in the Bhawanipore assembly constituency of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
During a meeting on Saturday, the party leaders of North 24-Parganas decided that Panchayat members would visit every household to scrutinize voter list. A special survillance will be carried out in the districts like Malda, South Dinajpur, North Dinajpur, Cooch Behar and Murshidabad.
Addressing TMC’s state conference on Thursday, Banerjee had accused the BJP of tampering with the electoral rolls with the “support of the Election Commission” by adding fake voters from other states, a charge denied by the saffron party. Banerjee had alleged that the BJP had used similar tactics in previous elections in Delhi and Maharashtra.
Trinamool Congress supremo and Bengal Chief Minister who is an MLA from Bhawanipore already directed eight councillors from her constituency to carry out a scrutiny of the voter list.