Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose and MP Mahua Moitra, launched scathing accusations against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday in New Delhi. Addressing an INDIA bloc 'public impeachment' event, they alleged widespread electoral theft and voter disenfranchisement in West Bengal, asserting that the state's election integrity had been severely compromised.
Ghose contended that the 2026 West Bengal elections were "stolen" by deleting eligible voters, directly accusing CEC Kumar of collusion with the Central government. She highlighted the removal of 27 lakh voters in Bengal under a "logical discrepancy" category during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. "Never in India's history has a CEC faced such accusations—actively conniving to steal the people's mandate and their right to vote," Ghose declared, demanding answers from the "Modi-Shah-Gyanesh 'gatbandhan'." She further claimed these deletions directly impacted election results, noting that in half of the BJP-won constituencies, deleted voters outnumbered the victory margin. Ghose also cited alleged counting irregularities in Rajarhat, where the TMC lost by 316 votes after a fresh count, and called the current BJP government in Bengal "illegal." She questioned the neutrality of poll officials, alleging some were later appointed to key government roles after overseeing election duties or the SIR. Referring to the CEC as "Mr Vanish Kumar," Ghose labeled the SIR a "deliberate exercise of disenfranchisement," with West Bengal as its target.
Fellow TMC MP Mahua Moitra reinforced these concerns, accusing Kumar of turning the SIR into an instrument for mass disenfranchisement. She contrasted his actions with those of India's first CEC, Sukumar Sen, who prioritized voter inclusion. Moitra claimed 71 percent of deleted voters were Muslims and 51 percent women, alleging BJP orchestration with Kumar as a "puppet" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. She cited 5.4 lakh voter deletions in Murshidabad and Nadia without reason, and questioned SIR's authorization, referencing an RTI response where the Election Commission reportedly hadn't decided on the exercise.
Image: sahilonline.org
đź“° Source: Sahil Online