Bengal Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury kicked off 2026 targeting the state’s ruling Trinamool and accusing it of having committed “vote robbery”, though he offered no details of how that might have happened. The big problem, though, for the Congress is the Trinamool is, on paper, an ally.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party is a member of the Congress-led INDIA bloc, albeit with a history of spats that fracture any sense of unity, particularly during election season.
The build-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, for example, saw bitter arguments between Banerjee and Chowdhury, then the Congress’ state boss, over divvying up the state’s 42 parliamentary seats.
Also, the remarks – which revolved around Rahul Gandhi’s ‘vote chori‘ charge and the Trinamool’s reaction to the Special Intensive Revision, or voter re-verification drive, in the state – were delivered months before another election in the state, one the two parties will likely again contest separately.
Chowdhury suggested the Trinamool boss, and her nephew, party second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee, had failed to live up to promises of stopping the contentious voter re-verification drive.
“Under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, Congress and all other parties raised questions about the Election Commission… we already said the EC does not respond. Before the SIR started Mamata Banerjee used to say she would not allow it (and) Abhishek Banerjee also used to say ‘if anyone dared to conduct SIR, they would make rivers of blood flow…” Chowdhury declared.
“… but now they have come with a delegation… even though the draft has already been issued and the final list is to be released. Trinamool doesn’t just steal votes; it commits vote robbery.”
The Congress leader’s statement have been pounced upon by the BJP.
Party spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said on X the Congress had “exposed” the Trinamool and said, “Adhir Ranjan says ‘Trinamool doesn’t do ‘vote chori’. It does ‘vote dakaiti’ (robbery).”
Chowdhury’s broadside came 24 hours after Abhishek Banerjee led a delegation to the Election Commission, to complain of large-scale manipulation of electoral rolls.
