Abhishek Banerjee cracks whip, orders TMC MPs, MLAs to activate poll war rooms

Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday directed party MPs and MLAs to immediately activate election war rooms in their respective constituencies and begin sending regular updates to the party leadership from 27 January, a senior party leader said.

Addressing a closed-door virtual meeting of party leaders, Banerjee also called for the immediate formation of a “booth raksha committee” at every polling booth to counter the BJP’s alleged attempts to delete genuine voters’ names during the ongoing SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls, citing issues flagged as “logical discrepancies”.

According to party sources, Banerjee said a TMC delegation would soon visit the Election Commission of India to protest what he described as efforts to disenfranchise voters through the SIR process.

He further announced that block- and town-wise dhikkar/protibad sabhas (condemnation and protest meetings) would be held across the state on 25 January, coinciding with National Voters’ Day, to mobilise public opinion against the exercise.

Banerjee also alleged that district election officers were being pressured by micro-observers to share their login credentials, and said the party would challenge the issue through legal means.

Expressing dissatisfaction over what he termed inadequate preparedness on the ground, Banerjee reportedly told the meeting that several war rooms were still not functional despite earlier instructions.

“Many MPs and MLAs are not active in this battle and this cannot continue. Those who do not actively stand with the party will not get the backing of the party. Participation in party programmes is essential,” he was quoted as saying.

Banerjee underlined that besides attending Parliament and Assembly sessions, elected representatives must devote adequate time to counter the political agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

“Only 22 days remain for the SIR to conclude. We must intensify our efforts. If required, people’s representatives should spend from their own resources to ensure that war rooms function properly,” he said, according to party leaders present at the meeting.

He added that detailed war room reports from MPs and MLAs must be submitted to the party leadership between 27 January and 15 February.

Referring to previous electoral exercises, Banerjee alleged that attempts had earlier been made to delete genuine voters’ names in other states under the pretext of technical discrepancies.

“We had already thwarted one such conspiracy in Bengal. We will not allow the same methods to be repeated here,” he said.

Banerjee also instructed the party’s women’s wing to screen a 58-minute documentary titled Lokkhi Elo Ghore (Lokkhi has come to the household) in every ward as part of the ‘Parar Sanklap’ campaign, aimed at highlighting state government schemes and outreach initiatives ahead of the Assembly elections due in a few months.