NEW DELHI: The meeting between a delegation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the full bench of the Election Commission of India on Wednesday ended on a bitter note, with the TMC alleging that the Chief Election Commissioner asked them to “get lost”, while the Election Commission accused the delegation of “shouting.”
After the meeting, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien told mediapersons that the delegation submitted letters from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and raised specific instances of poll officials allegedly having links with the BJP.
"Then he said, 'Get lost'. We have done eight to nine meetings with the Election Commission. Apart from the CEC, none of the other election commissioners spoke," O'Brien said.
"While we were walking out, one of my colleagues congratulated Gyanesh Kumar for being the only CEC to have notices moved in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for his removal," O'Brien MP said.
However, sources in the Commission said that as the TMC MP raised his voice, the CEC asked him to maintain decorum in the Commission room, adding that “shouting and indecent behaviour is not appropriate.”
Earlier in a post on X, the Commission said that the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections “would be conducted free from fear and violence.”
“ECI’s straight talk to Trinamool Congress: This time, elections in West Bengal will be fear-free, violence-free, intimidation-free, inducement-free, and without raids, booth jamming or source jamming,” the Commission said.
Polling for the 294-member Assembly is scheduled in two phases on 23 and 29 April, with vote counting on 4 May.
The statement followed the meeting at the Commission’s headquarters, attended by TMC representatives including Derek O’Brien, Menaka Guruswamy, Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale, who met the full bench of the Commission.
Tensions stem from the TMC’s objections to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state. The party has accused the ECI of acting in favour of the opposition BJP to remove voters from the rolls.
According to the TMC, 60 lakh voters were placed under adjudication, and 27 lakh have been removed. West Bengal’s total number of voters now stands at 7,04,59,284 (7.04 crore), excluding names under adjudication, down from 7,66,37,529 (7.66 crore) before the SIR exercise, reflecting a reduction of over 61 lakh names from the electoral list.