A fresh controversy erupted after a meeting between the Election Commission of India and the Trinamool Congress, following which Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar made a "straight-talk" post on X that critics said appeared to validate allegations of bias and risked damaging the Commission's credibility.
The Election Commission of India, in a post on its official handle on X, told the Trinamool Congress that the upcoming West Bengal elections would be "fear-free, violence-free, intimidation-free and inducement-free," and conducted without raids or any form of booth and source jamming.
The post, accompanied by a picture of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners S. S. Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, triggered backlash online, with many questioning whether it was truly the Election Commission's handle and alleging bias, with some comments claiming it appeared to reflect the BJP's position.
TMC MP Saket Gokhale, who was part of the meeting, called the Election Commission's post "a lie," claiming that nothing of the sort was said during the meeting and alleging that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar told the delegation to "get lost," while TMC MP Sagarika Ghose also termed the claims "false" and a "blatant lie," asserting that the same remark was made to the four-member delegation and challenging the Commission to release the meeting transcript.
The four-member delegation included Derek O’Brien, Sagarika Ghose, Menaka Guruswamy and Saket Ghokhale.
After the meeting, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien told mediapersons that the delegation submitted letters from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, raising specific instances of poll officials allegedly having links with the BJP.
O'Brien alleged that during the interaction, the CEC told the delegation to "get lost" and claimed that, apart from him, none of the other election commissioners spoke during the meeting.
He further said that as the delegation was leaving, one of his colleagues remarked that Kumar was the only Chief Election Commissioner against whom notices for removal had been moved in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal said there was now "no need to even say" that the Election Commission was working under the BJP, calling it "extremely unfortunate" and urging the poll body not to tarnish its own institutional reputation through such public remarks.
Journalist Mohammed Zubair questioned the post, asking, "Draft sent by the BJP head office?", while Arfa Khanum Sherwani remarked that it appeared like a "draft tweet for ECI," and Suhasini Haidar called it a "strange way for an Election Commission to declare itself impartial."
Tensions stem from the Trinamool Congress's objections to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, with the party accusing the Election Commission of India of acting in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party to remove voters from the rolls.
According to the TMC, around 60 lakh voters were placed under adjudication and 27 lakh removed, reducing the total electorate in West Bengal to 7.04 crore from 7.66 crore prior to the SIR exercise, a drop of over 61 lakh names.