TMC 2.0 is born, but will it find a place in the Sun?
It's official now, the Trinamul Congress (TMC) party has split, with the majority of 59 out of 80 MLAs opting out of the party founded and led by Mamata Banerjee.
Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the Trinamul Congress, on Monday raised serious concerns over alleged irregularities in voter registration in West Bengal, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of attempting to interfere with the state’s democratic process and questioning the response of the Election Commission of India.
In a post on his WhatsApp channel, Banerjee said, “What we are witnessing is deeply concerning. There are growing indications of a coordinated attempt to interfere with the democratic rights of the people of Bengal—with the BJP at the centre of it and the ECI seemingly looking the other way.”
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He stressed the seriousness of the issue, adding, “People deserve to know what is happening to their votes. This isn’t a small issue ~ it goes to the very heart of free and fair elections.”
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The Trinamul Congress leader claimed that his party had received “credible reports” from multiple districts regarding the submission of large numbers of Form 6 applications, which are used for the inclusion of new voters in electoral rolls. “These are not routine additions,” he said. “There are serious concerns that many of these entries may be linked to individuals who have no real connection to Bengal ~ people who don’t live here, don’t work here and have no stake in the state.”
Referring to a video circulating in this context, Banerjee said it “only adds to these concerns,” alleging that it shows “thousands of such forms being processed and stacked,” raising questions about “the scale and intent behind this exercise.”
He further warned against what he described as a pattern seen in other states. “We have seen similar concerns being raised in other states during elections. Bengal cannot be allowed to go down that path,” he said.
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