West Bengal Elections: In first campaign meeting at Bhabanipur, Mamata Banerjee slams BJP over SIR deletions

West Bengal Elections: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held her first community outreach program in her Bhabanipur constituency on 19 April. Banerjee, the sitting MLA from the area, sharpened her attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the deletion of names from electoral rolls and accused it of attempting to divide people on religious and caste lines.

Bhabanipur has emerged as one of the most keenly watched contests of the 2026 assembly polls, with Banerjee, a three-term MLA from the seat, facing a direct fight with Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Official. She filed her nomination from the Bhabanipur constituency in Kolkata on 8 April. The seat votes in the second phase on 29 April.

The contest in Bhabanipur has acquired added significance as it is being seen as a rematch of the 2021 Nandigram battle, where Adhikari had defeated Banerjee after quitting the TMC and joining the BJP.

Banerjee alleged that the names of several voters, belonging to minority and migrant communities, had been removed from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.

“Election is the festival of democracy, not autocracy,” the Trinamool Congress supremo said before a gathering comprising members of the Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Gujarati, Sindhi, Bihari and ISKCON communities.

She appealed to those present to carry her message back to their respective communities and maintain social unity. She claimed that around 300 nuns had found their names missing from the voters’ list during the revision exercise.

‘Names of Muslim, Bihari and Gujarati communities had been struck off’

She also alleged that the names of voters from the Muslim, Bihari and Gujarati communities had been struck off without any valid reason. Overall, 91 lakh names have been deleted from West Bengal’s voter list since the SIR began. The state’s voters have shrunk almost 12%, from 7.66 crore electors in October 2025 to 6.75 crore now. West Bengal had 7.34 crore eligible voters in the 2021 assembly elections.

Without naming the BJP directly at first, Banerjee accused her political opponents of trying to divide society on the basis of caste, religion and community in the run-up to the elections.

Referring to the recent controversy surrounding the Delimitation bill and women’s reservation, she alleged that attempts were being made to create social divisions rather than address people’s concerns.

She accused the BJP of trying to “capture Bengal by force” and alleged that central agencies, security forces and money power were being used in the state because the party feared defeat.

Banerjee assured people that West Bengal would continue to remain a place where people of every caste, creed and religion could practice their faith freely.

“Everyone has the right to follow his or her religion in Bengal. We have always protected communal harmony,” she said, adding that she had personally attended programs of different communities over the years.

Modi slams TMC over ‘betraying’ women

Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Trinamool Congress of “betraying” women by preventing the passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 in Parliament. The PM asserted that the women would punish the ruling party in West Bengal in the upcoming assembly polls.

Addressing an election rally at Bishnupur in Bankura district of West Bengal, Modi attacked the Mamata Banerjee-led party over its opposition to the bill, which sought to tweak the Women’s Reservation Act of 2023.

“The TMC does not want women empowerment and reservation. It does not want women from West Bengal to become MPs and MLAs in large numbers because women of the state are challenging its ‘maha jungle raj‘. That is why they conspired with Congress and opposed the bill. The women of West Bengal will punish TMC in this election,” he said.