Mamata Banerjee stood before a packed INDIA bloc session in New Delhi on Wednesday and declared she could not leave her house after the BJP’s decisive victory in West Bengal. Her words came amid a wave of violence that has seen Trinamool Congress leaders pick up stones and eggs in the wake of the state’s elections.
The most recent flare‑up involved Trinamool MLA Kunal Ghosh, whose car was blocked by a mob in Hooghly, and the vehicle was pelted with eggs and stones. Banerjee said the attacks were a direct consequence of “anarchy” unleashed by the BJP, and she added that the political temperature in the state had turned hostile.
Turning the spotlight on the Election Commission, Banerjee dubbed Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar “Vanish Kumar” and demanded his removal. She slammed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as a botched exercise that had removed voters’ names without proper appeal, calling for the return to the pre‑SIR roll for future elections.
The BJP, meanwhile, dismissed the allegations as “public anger” against the Trinamool Congress. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge joined the call for greater transparency in the SIR process, while the Election Commission defended its deliberations as routine institutional decision‑making, insisting that all final decisions were taken through established procedures.
The INDIA bloc will convene a follow‑up meeting to decide whether to support Banerjee’s demand for the CEC’s removal and how to address the SIR controversy. The outcome could shape the conduct of the upcoming parliamentary elections and the political balance in West Bengal.