Bengal polls 2026: All deleted voters will be restored if TMC wins, says Abhishek Banerjee

KOLKATA: Abhishek Banerjee, general secretary of the All India Trinamool Congress, on Friday launched a sharp attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Election Commission of India over alleged removal of names from voter lists, asserting that all deleted names would be restored if the TMC returns to power.Questioning the basis of the deletions, Banerjee said the exclusion of lakhs of voters raised serious concerns, especially amid claims that many of those removed were illegal immigrants. "I reassure that when TMC wins, the names of everyone cut from the voter list will be added back. Or the BJP and Election Comission should say that the 90 lakh people whose names were cut were all Bangladeshis... According to their statements, the 63% names out of these were of Hindus, then they too must be Bangladeshi or Rohingya," he said.Meanwhile, Union home minister Amit Shah said the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) would be implemented in West Bengal within six months if the BJP comes to power in the state.Shah made the remarks while releasing the party’s manifesto, ‘Sankalp Patra’, for the 2026 assembly elections in West Bengal.Addressing a programme in Kolkata, he said several BJP-ruled states had already implemented the UCC to ensure a uniform set of laws for all citizens."Several BJP-ruled states have implemented the Uniform Civil Code. Within six months, we will implement the UCC in Bengal and ensure that a single, uniform set of laws applies to all citizens across the state," he said.Shah also said the party would act against infiltration and cattle smuggling along the state’s borders."We will not only seal Bengal's borders against infiltrators but also ensure that not a single cow is smuggled out of India through Bengal," he said.He further claimed that people in the state were seeking political change and alleged growing public discontent."The people are frightened and disillusioned. The people want change from the heart. Today we are working as the main opposition party in the Bengal Assembly," he said.Shah added that a commission headed by a retired Supreme Court judge would be set up to probe political violence. He also announced plans to bring out three white papers on corruption, political violence, and restoration of law and order.Polling for the 294-member assembly will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29, with counting scheduled for May 4.