Bengal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said the TMC was preparing to get the names on the revised list of voters verified. (File photo)The Trinamool Congress (TMC) Saturday alleged that the BJP was trying to win elections in Opposition-ruled states by enlisting ‘ghost voters’ with the help of the Election Commission. Attacking the BJP, the TMC wrote, “4,500 Ghost Voters Added to Bengal’s Electoral Rolls? In just 7 months since the Lok Sabha elections, Champahati’s voter count (in South 24 Parganas) has surged by 4,500, with many new entries traced back to Murshidabad, Malda, and Siliguri, rather than local residents. Shockingly, some booths have seen 200-300 new registrations, with multiple voters listed under the same phone number!“This isn’t a clerical error; @BJP4India is attempting to replicate the ‘Delhi Model’ right here in Bengal. Is @ECISVEEP even monitoring this blatant manipulation? If this goes unchallenged, the integrity of elections across India will be at grave risk. Democracy is under THREAT!”Earlier, Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had raised the issue of ‘ghost voters’ and ordered her party leaders to take action to delete such voters from the electoral rolls.Banerjee said: “Why should the voter roll be made online? How did Maharashtra’s voter list increase by 40 lakh? They are trying the same in Bengal, attempting to add outsiders to our voter list. We will not allow this. What others cannot do, we can. We have uncovered their lies.”Bengal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said the TMC was preparing to get the names on the revised list of voters verified.Chatterjee said, “I shall convene a meeting within a day or two and also write to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on alleged bogus voters crowding the voters’ list. I personally will visit the CEO’s office and verify the names. No names, without proper verifications, would be allowed to be registered. No online registration of voters will be tolerated.”Story continues below this adSources in the TMC said leaders in each district have been alerted on the issue and they have been asked to bring any discrepancy to the notice of the district administration.Reacting to the TMC’s allegations, BJP state president Sukanta Majumder said the TMC itself was involved in the inclusion of the names of fake voters.He wrote on social media, “Fake voters, rigged elections, and a broken democracy – @MamataOfficial’s TMC has mastered the art of electoral fraud. How many more fake votes will it take before Bengal wakes up to this corruption? @AITCofficial”.Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:TMCWest Bengal Assembly election