Escalating ‘fake voters’ charge, Trinamool Ministers hit the streets to scrutinize electoral rolls

Trinamool Congress leaders conduct door-to-door campaign to scrutinize electoral rolls in West Bengal amid allegations of fake voters.

Doubling down on their allegations of inclusion of fake voters in the electoral rolls in West Bengal, several Trinamool Congress leaders began a door-to-door campaign on Saturday (March 1, 2025) to scrutinize the rolls across the State.

Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim and North Bengal Development Minister Udayan Guha scrutinized the rolls in many areas in their respective constituencies. Mr. Hakim, who is also the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, went around ward 82 of the civic body scrutinizing the rolls. The ward comes under Bhawanipore Assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Also read | West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer refutes Mamata’s ‘election manipulation’ remarks

“We have to list the number of fake voters and the number of dead voters separately. After scrutinizing the list, we will specify in each booth the assembly number, part number, and booth number of those who were found and those who were not found. Accordingly, if the party finds unreasonably high number of fake voters, it will be reported to the Election Commission,” Mr. Hakim said.

At a meeting on Thursday, the Chief Minister directed the party leadership to ensure that there are no fake voters in the electoral rolls. Ms. Banerjee alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership with the blessings of Election Commission of India (ECI) included fake voters in the electoral rolls. After the meeting on Thursday, she summoned councillors from Bhawanipore, including the Mayor, and directed them to look for fake voters.

On Friday, the BJP leadership, led by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, approached the office of Chief Electoral Officer and lodged a complaint against the Chief Minister for targeting the Chief Election Commissioner. Mr. Adhikari also sent a letter to the newly appointed CEC alleging that the Chief Minister had crossed all boundaries in attacking the constitutional functionary.

Meanwhile, the CEO, in a multitude of posts on microblogging site X late on Friday night stated that any claims or objections related to the voters list are to be made first before the concerned 80,633 Booth Level Officers, 3,049 Assistant Electoral Returning Officers and 294 Electoral Returning Officers in West Bengal.