While WB BJP is  focussed on marking  BLOs ‘biased’ towards ruling party, Trinamool has created a ‘war room’ to monitor the ‘booth level agents’ (BLAs) to conduct the 2026 election

At a first glance, a war of words seems to be raging between  Trinamool Congress and BJP leaderships in West Bengal in the run up to the 2026 Assembly elections in the state. But a second glance, longer and more searching  at the two poll bound political outfits reveals the TMC leadership to be  more focussed while the  state saffron unit is yet to fix its priorities. 

Training it’s guns at Block Level Officers(BLO)s with alleged Trinamool links seems to be high on the BJP’s agenda. The BLOs are an integral part of the Special Intensive Revision (,SIR) process and the state saffron leadership feels that weeding out “biased BLOs” will be part of winning half the poll battle.

Fact remains it is a small part in the electoral battle over 294 Assembly constituencies. Moreover, the BLOs are not the decision makers over inclusion and deletion of voters names. 

The inclusion or deletion decisions rests  with higher officials including returning officers. The BLOs are mere cogs in the election procedure. 

Questioning their credibility will get the BJP nowhere. Most of the BLOs being state government employees harbour  a grudge against the TMC state government  on the  drsrness allowance issue .

Berating them continuously will hardly help the BJP’s cause. In this backdrop, some of the BLOs have already sought greater security for thesemxejvrs during the SIR. 

The process of SIR begins tomorrow in West Bengal. If the objections continue to pour in, finding replacements will be a difficult task for the Election Commission and hinder the SIR process. 

The BJP leadership’s insistence on marking out ‘biased BLOs’ can be traced to an organisational weakness of the state saffron unit. It is a pointer to paucity of sufficient number of Booth Level Agents (BLA) s of the BJP. 

Despite its much vaunted cadre-based organisation, the scarcity of booth level agents have continued to a stumbling block in successive .elections for the  BJP poll triumph. Many BLOs do not support the state government but cannot delete or include names in the voters list thanks to TMC ‘s organisation, state irrigation minister, Dr Manas Bhuniya pointed out.  

Our national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee has stated this, the minister said. That is why he has asked our BLAs to be keep a close watch on the BLOs’ functioning, he added. 

The difference in the mindset of the leaderships of the two principal contestants of 2026 Assembly elections is out in the open. If BJP state unit chief Shamik Bhattacharya is harping on the issue of “biased BLO”s, TMC de facto number two, Abhishek Banerjee has a “war room” in his sights. 

These centres of coordinating the SIR is to be set up in each Assembly segment. It would be equipped with a “help desk”.

This centre of coordination would be manned by local MLA and MP,  it was learnt from TMC sources. The party rank and file together with senior leaders have been asked to stop any attempt to delete valid voters from the poll list and also to ensure persons who are not valid voters do not get their names into it. 

The 2002 voter list not matching in some of the portions in EC’,s website has also been flagged. The TMC functionaries have been instructed to detect this mismatch.and rectify it.  

It appears the TMC camp is getting more involved in the coming elections  process. Its principal  political opponent BJP appears to r struck with trivialities. 

At a time when the BJP leadership right from Prune Minister Narendra Modi to other leaders  are highlighting the infiltration issue especially in West Bengal, BJP MP Jagaannath Sarkar said that the barbed wire separating India and Bangladesh will disappear once BJP comes to power. 

The Ranaghat MP is speaking of merger of a neighbouring country with his own. In doing so not only is he unwittingly fizzling out of a key poll issue but  inviting deterioration of bilateral relations. 

However, there has not been any supporting voices from the saffron camp. But he has not been pulled up till date. 

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Sarkar shooting off his mouth is a pointer to the state party leadership’s inability to rein in its leaders. This lack of control percolates to the rank and file and is the last thing the principal Opposition party seeking to replace the ruling TMC dispensation should display months before the crucial Assembly elections. 

But then multiple power centres in West Bengal unit of BJP is an open secret. It prevents state unit chief Shamik Bhattacharya from getting his act together. 

Till date, the factions headed  by Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and former state chiefs Sukanta Majumdar and Dilip Ghosh have  not buried  their differences, In this backdrop,  setting up a well liked election machinery to replace the TMC state government is a tall order for Bhattacharya.