Trinamool leaders meet Chief Electoral Officer over ‘fake voter’ issue

Trinamool Congress delegation meets Chief Electoral Officer to discuss discrepancies in State's voters' lists, demands unique ID numbers.

A delegation of the Trinamool Congress met with the Chief Electoral Officer on Thursday (March 6, 2025) to discuss alleged discrepancies in the State’s voters’ lists, an issue flagged by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee at a party meeting recently.

The delegation comprising West Bengal State president Subrata Bakshi and legislators Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Aroop Biswas, and Ritabrata Banerjee met the Chief Electoral Officer to discuss alleged irregularities in the State’s electoral rolls.

“If Aadhaar can have a unique ID number, then why will voter IDs not have a unique identity number? This is our demand. If it is not fulfilled, we will have to launch a large scale movement as directed by our leader Mamata Banerjee,” Mr. Hakim said after the delegation met with the CEO on Thursday (March 6, 2025).

“We have demanded that when a voter makes an online application, they must undergo physical verification by the Block Land and Land Reforms Officer. Moreover, unique ID numbers for every voter must be ensured by the Election Commission of India. This must be verified and monitored,” he added.

This development followed a meeting of the 36-member ‘core committee’ announced by Ms. Banerjee on February 27 for scrutiny of the State’s electoral rolls. 

The core committee met with district-level party functionaries at Trinamool Bhavan in Kolkata on Thursday (March 6, 2025) under the leadership of Rajya Sabha MP Subrata Bakshi and discussed strategies for tackling the alleged ‘fake voter’ issue.

At the core committee meeting, the party legislators decided upon a multi-pronged approach towards tackling the ‘fake voter’ issue. The strategies discussed on Thursday (March 6, 2025) include combing through electoral rolls for illegal electors from Bangladesh, identifying multiple identical EPIC numbers, and taking special cognizance of voters who were inducted into the lists through online applications, and who were wrongfully dropped from the list.