Trinamool Congress accuses ECI of ‘favouring’ BJP during SIR in West Bengal

Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party clashed once again over the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of voter rolls in West Bengal on Wednesday, November 12, 2025; Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of issuing orders ‘in favor’ of the BJP.

He was referring to an ECI notification dated November 11, which allows appointment of booth level representatives (BLAs) affiliated with a political party for a particular polling station, where voters may be in a different polling station in the same Assembly constituency.

“Previously the criterion was that BLA must be [an elector] To assist the staff of the stand to which they are assigned. Since the BJP failed to appoint BLAs to the same polling stations in nearly 75% of the cases, the Election Commission passed an order in their favor… They relaxed a stringent condition to accommodate the BJP,” Mr. Banerjee alleged.

‘Totally prejudiced’

The ECI, in its notification to Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all States and Union Territories, amended its earlier directive, saying “in case of non-availability of BLA from the same portion of the electoral roll, BLA may be appointed from any registered voter in the same Assembly constituency.”

Mr Banerjee asked why the ECI had deviated from its own earlier guidance, claiming that the notification was “proof that the electoral body is working to alleviate the problems of the BJP and no one else”. “The Election Commission is completely biased… The way the Election Commission is destroying its own institutional legacy is shameful for Indian democracy,” the Sreerampur MP said.

Limiting effect

Referring to the Voters’ Registration Rules, 1960, he claimed that the 2002 electoral rolls could not be taken into account in law as West Bengal was also subject to a delimitation exercise in 2009.

“Where there is delimitation, the electoral rolls have to be revised. This should be taken into account and no electoral rolls before delimitation will be taken into account. This is the law. In this case, the 2002 electoral rolls cannot be taken into account. After delimitation, a new electoral roll was published and once a new electoral roll is formed, the authorities cannot do otherwise,” Mr. Banerjee said.

BJP’s response

Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, responding to Trinamool’s allegations, asked why BLAs cannot call from a different polling booth during an SIR, given that polling officials can call from a different booth in the same Constituency during elections.

“If we can think of the Parliament [constituency] If voting officials are appointed to the ballot boxes, they must take into account the Parliament as the centre. [constituency] As the hub in case of assignment of BLA-2s. Yesterday, the Election Commission granted concession that BLA-2 of any political party can be obtained from a different booth in the same Assembly constituency,” Mr. Adhikari said.

BLO party links

A BJP delegation met the West Bengal chief executive on Wednesday and raised several concerns, including political affiliations of booth-level officers (BLOs) carrying out the SIR exercise and voter cheating.

“We have submitted a pen drive and hard copies of the evidence of dead voters and double and triple entries of 13.25 lakh [in emuneration forms]. The CEO accepted this and instructed officials to investigate our allegations in all 294 Assembly constituencies,” Mr. Adhikari said.

He added that the BJP had flagged 5,700 BLOs for alleged violation of ECI rules on appointments and pointed out examples of political connections between BLOs. He said the BJP had sought the response of the CEO’s office on the outcome of their complaint and the CEO had assured them of investigation and further steps.