'Public impeachment' of CEC TMC's Sagarika Ghose claims Bengal polls stolen

    New Delhi, Oct 31 (PTI) Trinamool Congress leader Sagarika Ghose on Saturday alleged that the 2026 West Bengal elections were “stolen” by deleting eligible voters from the electoral rolls, accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of working in collusion with the Centre to undermine the people's mandate.

    Speaking at the INDIA bloc's symbolic public impeachment of Kumar, the TMC Rajya Sabha MP said the deletion of 27 lakh voters (in Bengal) under the “logical discrepancy” category during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise raised serious questions about the conduct of the Election Commission.

    “Never in the history of India has a CEC stood accused of what he is accused of today – actively conniving with the government of the day to steal the people's mandate and steal the right to vote,” she said.

    Questioning the basis for the deletions, Ghose asked who created the category of logical discrepancy and authorised its use.

    “Who invented this category of logical discrepancy? Who authorised it? Who is accountable for these deletions? The Modi-Shah-Gyanesh ‘gatbandhan’ should answer,” she said.

    Ghose also claimed that the deletions had a direct bearing on the election results, claiming that in half of the constituencies won by the BJP in Bengal, the number of deleted voters exceeded the margin of victory.

    Alleging irregularities during the counting process, she claimed that counting agents were stopped and a fresh round of counting was held in Rajarhat, where the TMC lost by 316 votes.

    “The election was stolen without a single vote being cast,” she alleged, describing the current BJP government in Bengal as “illegal” and “illegitimate”.

    Ghose also questioned the neutrality of the poll officials, alleging that one of the officials on election duty was subsequently appointed chief secretary while another who supervised the SIR exercise became an advisor to the BJP government in the state.

    Calling the CEC “Mr Vanish Kumar”, Ghose said the SIR was a “deliberate exercise of disenfranchisement”, alleging that Bihar was the pilot and West Bengal the target.

    Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra also accused Kumar of turning the SIR exercise into an instrument of mass disenfranchisement, contrasting it with the first general elections in 1951-52 when 17 crore voters, many without identity documents, were enrolled through door-to-door enumeration.

    “Sukumar Sen, in the Constitution, in its letter and its spirit, read a command to include, to educate, whereas Gyanesh Kumar reads within the Constitution a power to disenfranchise and authority to exclude,” she said.

    Sukumar Sen was the first chief election commissioner of India, under whom the Election Commission successfully oversaw Independent India's first two general elections, in 1951-52 and in 1957.

    Moitra also claimed that 71 per cent of those deleted from the Bengal electoral rolls were Muslims and 51 per cent women. Alleging that the BJP orchestrated the exercise, she called Kumar a “puppet” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah the “main puppeteers”.

    Citing alleged irregularities in Murshidabad and Nadia, she claimed that 5.4 lakh voters were deleted in the two districts without any reason.

    She also questioned who authorised the SIR, citing an RTI response in which the Election Commission reportedly said that it had not taken a decision on the exercise.

    “A voter is not merely a name in a database; it's a voice. And when a voice is wrongfully silenced, it is not an administrative mistake, it is an injury to democracy,” Mopitra said, demanding Kumar's removal and prosecution.

    The proceedings also heard accounts from voters who said their names had been removed from the electoral rolls.

    Anita Jaiswal, who had moved from Kolkata to Delhi, said she had voted in every election between 2012 and 2025 but was now being asked to establish her citizenship.

    “I am a single mother. They told me to get an Aadhaar card, saying it would prove that I am a citizen. Who gave you the right to remove my voter ID? My daughter gets a scholarship, has a bank account and an Aadhaar card, and now you are deleting our names. Who gave you the right?" she asked.

    Questioning the basis for the action against her, Jaiswal said, “Prove which country I am from.”

    Ahmed, another voter from Kolkata, said he had been voting in the same constituency for 20 years but received a notice during the SIR hearing seeking documents because of a mapping problem.

    He said his father had also been voting from the same address for two decades.

    “I am stressed. Our names have been removed in a planned manner,” he alleged, describing Kumar as the “mastermind” behind the exercise.

    The INDIA bloc organised the symbolic public impeachment of the CEC as part of its campaign against the SIR exercise and alleged electoral irregularities.

    The event was held in the garden of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence at 10, Rajaji Marg.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)