CM Mamata Banerjee apprehends more central agency actions in Bengal before 2026 Assembly polls

Kolkata, Feb 27 (IANS) Trinamool Congress supremo and  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Thursday, expressed apprehension that there might be enhanced actions by different Central investigative agencies in the state before the 2026 Assembly elections. 

Without directly naming the BJP, she accused the central ruling party of activating the agencies against the Trinamool Congress before any election.

“Before any election, they fix their targets on whom to be arrested or against whom charge sheets have to be filed or whom to be branded as a thief. They are simply shameless. They are yet to solve the case on R.G. Kar,” the Chief Minister said while addressing the organisation's mega meeting here on Thursday afternoon.

Speaking on the occasion, she also blamed the Union government for the latter’s alleged inability to convince the Union government not to send back Indians in chained conditions. “When they are sending back our Indian brothers and sisters in chained conditions, you were holding meetings with them. Why could you not convince them so that they do not send Indians back in such conditions and arrange for their return to India respectfully, as the Colombian government had done? Why is the Indian government not sending airplanes to the US to bring Indians back and also assure them jobs in the country?” the Chief Minister questioned.

Addressing the organisational meeting, the Chief Minister also advised the party leaders to fully cooperate with political strategist Prashant Kishor-founded Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), with whom Trinamool Congress has a campaign-strategy assistance arrangement since the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.

“The leaders will have to listen to the advice of I-PAC. They will have to cooperate with I-PAC. Stop making negative comments about the organisation,” the Chief Minister said.

Her observations in the matter come at a time when a section of the Trinamool Congress leadership had been making negative public statements against I-PAC from open forums as well as to the media.

The CM also claimed that an online agency appointed by the BJP has become active in West Bengal these days to misappropriate the voter list so that voters from other states can vote in the 2026 Assembly elections.

“As far as the information gathered by me, the two agencies which have been appointed for that purpose are the Association of Brilliant Minds and Company India 360. These agencies reached out to the data entry operators. They did this in association with some errant block-level returning officers. They are linking the names of voters from other states with the EPIC number of voters in West Bengal,” the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister also said she has noticed specific instances of voters from other states, like Haryana, Gujarat, Bihar, Punjab, and Rajasthan. "The maximum are from Haryana and Gujarat,” she said.

She also said the same misappropriations were done before the elections in states like Delhi, Maharashtra and Haryana, which helped the BJP to win there. “The other parties there were unable to catch the trick. But we in Bengal have been able to identify the trick well in advance, and hence we will never allow the plot to be successful here,” the Chief Minister said. Thereafter, she announced the formation of district-level core committees of her party whose only task will be to identify such alleged misappropriations at the respective districts.

“These district-level core committees will send the reports from their respective districts to a centralized committee created for that purpose, which will be headed by the party’s state president in West Bengal, Subrata Bakshi. The task of identifying the bogus voters will have to be completed within the next 10 days. If the said committee fails in the task, then I will myself identify the bogus voters,” the Chief Minister said.