Mamata directs TMC BLAs to conduct house-to-house survey in Bhawanipore

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has directed the Trinamool Congress workers and Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of her home constituency, Bhawanipore in South Kolkata, to conduct a house-to-house survey of voters whose names have been dropped from the electoral rolls and help them get their names reenlisted, party sources have said.

According to sources, all the TMC councilors of her constituency have been asked to approach the eliminated voters personally and get their requisite documents prepared before the hearing process begins on December 27.

More than 44,000 names have been excluded from the draft voter list at Bhawanipore. “Ensure that no valid voter’s name is dropped and if any name has been deleted, get that enlisted after hearing, get their necessary documents prepared if need be,” Banerjee has been quoted as telling her party leaders in Bhawanipore.

“May I Help You” camps have been set up and guidance was being offered to the voters whose names have been dropped, sources said.

Out of the 44,000 names deleted, 10,000 were found ‘dead’ while another 12,000 ‘shifted’, sources said, adding some 10,000 names were found “duplicated.” After the enumeration process, the total number of voters stands at 206,295 in the Bhawanipore constituency.

In the 2024 general elections, the TMC trailed the BJP in 5 out of 7 wards in the Bhawanipore Assembly seat, whereas in her own ward number 74, the Chief Minister’s party had led by a paltry 200 votes.

According to sources, during a recent conversation with senior minister and TMC leader Firhad Hakim, the Chief Minister had made her concerns clear to the latter, wondering how “many outsiders” have got their names included in the voters’ list in the area. She directed Hakim to enquire into the reports of such “intrusions” and provide her with ward-based reports at the earliest.

Banerjee’s new directives to the party men come in the backdrop of Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari throwing an open challenge to the Chief Minister, saying he would contest from Bhawanipore and defeat her.

“I defeated her at Nandigram. This time, I will contest from Bhawanipore and defeat her too. I will not let her escape,” Adhikari said.

“The TMC will win in any case but we want to make sure that the victory margin of our Chief Minister increases this time round,” one of the councilors said.

When asked to comment on the Chief Ministerial directives to help the voters whose names have been deleted to get enlisted once again, Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said, “the cleansing of the electoral rolls have driven the Chief Minister wild the students who used to pass the examinations by copying are suddenly facing a strict system her directive to the party men to visit house to house only betrays her lack of confidence this time round.”