In a major escalation ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched a blistering attack on the Election Commission (EC) and the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), alleging a coordinated attempt to “import” voters and tilt the electoral balance.
The Form 6 Flashpoint
The controversy centers on Form 6, the official document used for the fresh inclusion of names in the electoral roll. On Tuesday, March 31, 2026, TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee met with CEO Manoj Agarwal, alleging that over 30,000 Form 6 applications were submitted in a single six-hour window—a move the party claims violates Supreme Court directives and EC guidelines.
The TMC alleges that BJP agents brought “sackfuls” of applications to the CEO’s office, claiming these applicants are not genuine residents of Bengal but are being brought in from neighboring states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to alter the state’s demography.
Slapping the “S.I.R.” Process
This row follows months of tension over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The Chief Minister has written a stern letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, accusing the commission of “undermining democratic rights.”
Banerjee’s primary grievances include:
Mass Deletions: Allegations that 1.2 crore names were purged from the rolls during the SIR exercise.
Legacy Linkage: Concerns that requiring voters to trace their lineage back to 2002 electoral rolls is a “backdoor NRC” (National Register of Citizens) designed to harass genuine citizens, particularly in the Matua and refugee communities.
Transparency: The TMC has demanded the immediate release of 24-hour CCTV footage from the CEO’s office to verify how the bulk Form 6 submissions were processed.
A State Divided
The BJP has dismissed these allegations as “baseless panic,” counter-arguing that the TMC is attempting to protect “illegal immigrants” who have inflated the voter list for years. Meanwhile, violence broke out outside the CEO’s office in Kolkata yesterday as TMC and BJP workers clashed over the submission process.
With the first phase of polling scheduled for April 23, the “Form 6 war” has turned the technical process of voter registration into the primary battlefield of the 2026 election. As the CEO’s office comes under intense scrutiny, the integrity of the electoral roll remains the biggest question mark hanging over the upcoming polls.