TMC to win at least one more assembly seat in Bengal this year than its 2021 tally: Abhishek

Kolkata, Jan 2 (PTI) TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee on Friday stepped on his party's gas for the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal, asserting that the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation will win at least one seat more than its tally five years ago.

In 2021, the TMC had won 216 seats in the 294-member assembly, up five seats from its 2016 count. The BJP won 77 seats, reducing the Left-Congress tally to a naught.

Addressing a rally in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district, Banerjee walked on a specially designed four-way ramp, jutting out from the main stage and protruding to the gathering of his supporters.

He took on the EC and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar head on, accusing the poll body of "conspiring to delete legitimate voters" from the state's electoral rolls by means of the ongoing SIR exercise.

"The reason I wanted a ramp like this is because I want to present before you three 'ghosts'. Have you seen dead people walking on ramps?" Banerjee asked, introducing three voters who have allegedly been marked as "dead" by the EC and their names deleted from the published draft rolls.

Banerjee claimed that the trio -- Manirul Molla, Haekrishna Giri and Maya Das -- are voters from Metiabruz and Kakdwip regions of the district.

"They are not the only ones to have been wrongfully deleted from the rolls. There are at least 24 such "dead" voters in South 24 Parganas itself. I would like to tell the EC and BJP, the more you launch such attacks on the people of Bengal, the more resolute the Trinamool and its workers will get. We are like pure iron, the more you hit, the stronger we get," Banerjee said, sharpening his poll rhetoric.

The Election Commission had on December 16 published West Bengal's draft electoral rolls following SIR enumeration, deleting the names of over 58 lakh voters on various grounds, including death and migration.

"Let them come to us with all their might. Mark my words, we will still add at least one more seat to our tally from last time," he added.

Sounding the poll bugle for his party on the second day of the New Year, Banerjee launched the TMC's 'Abar Jitbe Bangla' (Bengal to win again) campaign from Baruipur as the first of his 26 scheduled meetings across the state over 19 days in January, and justified the venue selection by calling the district his "karmabhumi" (domain of work).

He set a target of winning all 31 seats in the district for his workers, with ISF-held Bhangar as the additional seat in the party's horizon.

Banerjee said, "The BJP hasn't rested after withholding people's money from government schemes which now run into Rs 2 lakh crore. They are now using the EC to snatch our fundamental right to vote. They have waged a war on the people of Bengal after failing to win the state. It's time to give them a befitting reply." The leader also set a target of securing a winning margin of "50,000 plus votes from each and every seat of the district" over the BJP.

"2026 is not merely an election year to defeat the BJP. It is an election to teach them a lesson. Let the zamindars in Delhi get a feel of the power of the people of Bengal," he said, coining the slogan "Paaper ghora purno, Banglay BJP ebar shunyo" (their vessel of sin is full, the BJP will be down to zero in Bengal).

Twisting the CEC's name by calling him "Vanish Kumar", Banerjee asked who should remain accountable for the "85-odd people who attempted death by suicide in Bengal, 56 of whom perished" on account of "anxieties related to the unplanned implementation of SIR".

"I met the CEC and asked him to publish the names of the 'Bangladeshis' whose names were deleted. He couldn't and instead raised his fingers at me. I told him that I was an elected representative of the people, unlike him, who is nominated by his political bosses. Be alert Mr Kumar, today Abhishek Banerjee has visited you, tomorrow, Mamata Banerjee will. Where will you go then?" he said.

Banerjee recollected the long queues people had to wait outside ATMs during demonetisation a decade ago and compared it to the queues people are standing in for the SIR hearings.

"They want you to stand in long queues again and again. I ask you to stand in a queue one last time outside the polling booths and press the EVM button in a manner that ensures those who have unmapped you are driven out of the map of Bengal," he said.

The TMC MP alleged that the central government has raised Rs 6.5 lakh crore from Bengal through GST and Income Tax over the last seven years, and has, instead, conspired to thrust impoverishment on the people of the state.

"The PM had promised to give employment to two crore youths of this country every year. He has been in power for 11 years now. Which means, he was supposed to give jobs to 22 crore youths. Now, there are 4123 assembly constituencies in India and each of them should have received roughly 53,000 job offers.

"If you can show me even one constituency which has received even 5,000 jobs from the Centre, I will quit politics," Banerjee claimed, working out the math.

Banerjee also challenged the BJP-ruled states to implement a scheme like Lakshmir Bhandar, where the state transfers monthly Rs 1,000 to women in some 2.3 crore households of the state, alleging those who attempted doing it have "either backed out or slashed beneficiary numbers by setting conditions". PTI SUS BDC SMY NN