Trinamool Congress accuses Election Commission of India of leaking info to BJP leaders

The Trinamool Congress on Sunday, November 30, 2025, accused the Election Commission of India of “selective leaks” to BJP leaders and described the poll panel as an “expanded body” of the saffron camp.

At least 40 people, including four BLOs, have died due to stress due to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal in the past one month, with the TMC claiming that the ECI was responsible for the deaths and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had “blood on his hands”.

Addressing a press conference here, senior TMC leaders wondered how opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari had “estimated” the number of poll phases during next year’s assembly elections and announced that the names of one crore people would be removed in the ongoing SIR exercise.

Claiming that BJP leaders like Mr. Adhikari had stated that State elections could be held in two to three phases instead of eight phases as held in 2021, senior Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said, “If the EC is truly autonomous, how can BJP leaders talk confidently about the number of phases or the timing of the SIR?”

TMC MP Partha Bhowmik said that from day one, Suvendu Adhikari and other BJP leaders had created a sense of fear among the common people by repeatedly claiming that one crore names would be removed from the voter list in the state.

“How did they know the figure? Instead of answering our questions, the EC is busy making selective leaks into the BJP’s propaganda machine. Instead of working as a neutral body, the ECI is working as an extended body of the BJP,” Mr. Bhowmik said.

However, ECI officials said they could not comment on the allegations of political leaders.

Ms. Bhattacharya said the TMC was not against the SIR, but against its “reckless and hasty implementation”.

Mr. Bhowmik alleged that Kumar had “blood on his hands” as he was a CEC and was therefore responsible for more than 40 SIR-related deaths in the last one month.

“What’s worse is that they have zero remorse for the people who died. There is not a single statement from the Prime Minister, Amit Shah or Gyanesh Kumar expressing regret for the loss of lives. Their silence reveals their complicity,” the minister said.

On extending the SIR timeline, he said if the ECI is so serious about this process, they should have started it a few months ago with a significant time frame and planning.

“Why did they launch an unplanned exercise without properly training the BLOs, fixing the implementation errors, providing internet access, cleaning the irregular voter lists?” he asked.