The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Wednesday voiced strong dissatisfaction after its delegation met with the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) over its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the party-ruled West Bengal. Party leader Abhishek Banerjee accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of failing to respond satisfactorily to their concerns, including the classification of 1.36 crore voters as “suspicious” or having “logical discrepancies.”
He also questioned “unsubstantiated” claims about illegal Bangladeshi or Rohingya voters and accused the poll body of facilitating “vote chori” through manipulation of voter lists. “We will fight it legally,” he said, briefing the media after the meeting. Rejecting the allegations, the EC cautioned parties against intimidating election officials.
With five critical Assembly elections due in 2026 in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, opposition parties are converging on a major concern: the SIR of electoral rolls. The Congress, meanwhile, has an additional issue—the Centre replacing the UPA-era MGNREGA with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) or the VB G-RAM G scheme.
The Congress has announced a nationwide agitation from January 5, with party president Mallikarjun Kharge accusing the Narendra Modi government of “kicking the poor in the stomach” by dismantling welfare guarantees. In Tamil Nadu, the Congress state unit has urged the ECI to ensure transparency in SIR procedures, citing multiple concerns.
Similar apprehensions have been raised by opposition parties in other poll-bound states. The DMK in Tamil Nadu has described the SIR as a “political weapon” meant to “disenfranchise genuine voters, particularly minorities and Scheduled Castes and Tribes.” In Kerala, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has flagged exclusions in the draft electoral rolls.
While the ECI maintains that the SIR is intended to eliminate ghost voters, duplicates, and ineligible entries to uphold the principle of “one person, one vote,” opposition parties claim that migrants, youth, minorities, and the poor are being disproportionately affected due to documentation hurdles. Protests have already surfaced in states such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Assam, meanwhile, is undergoing a separate “Special Revision,” distinct from the SIR elsewhere.
Politically, 2026 is an interesting and also a significant year, and parties will be deploying all available ammo in the expected tough challenges. What is making the upcoming elections even more significant is that three of the five poll-bound states—West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala—are governed by the BJP’s principal rivals: Mamata Banerjee’s TMC, M K Stalin’s DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), respectively. Assam has a BJP government under Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Puducherry has an AINRC–BJP coalition government headed by N Rangasamy.
In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is facing a resurgent BJP, while the Congress and the Left parties attempt to regain lost ground. Kerala’s LDF is aiming for an unprecedented third consecutive term, but recent local body elections signalled a revival of the Congress-led UDF and a breakthrough for the BJP-led NDA, altering the state’s traditional bipolar politics. In Tamil Nadu, the DMK is facing a challenge from the AIADMK, which now has the backing of the BJP. As for Assam, BJP’s Himanta Biswa Sarma will be fighting against a resurgent Congress, while in Puducherry, the AINRC–BJP coalition has the challenge of holding against the DMK and the Congress.