Trinamool Congress General Secretary and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee has directed the formation of two micro-level committees at the district level in West Bengal to identify bogus voters ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. The announcement came during a virtual meeting with party leaders on Saturday, where tackling electoral fraud topped the agenda.

The first tier, the Panchayat Level Electoral Supervisory Committee, will operate at the village level, while the second, the Town Level Electoral Supervisory Committee, will focus on urban areas. Both must be established by April 2025 and will begin functioning from April 16, continuing until the state polls. The Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), led by Prashant Kishor and a Trinamool ally since 2021, will train committee members for the task.

These committees supplement a state-level panel formed last month by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, chaired by party president Subrata Bakshi, with Abhishek Banerjee as the second-ranking member. He instructed the new tiers to meet monthly, track progress on identifying fake voters, and report to the state committee.

Banerjee warned of tactics allegedly used by the BJP in Maharashtra, where he claimed forged voter lists included out-of-state names, a move opposition parties failed to counter. In Bengal, he alleged, the BJP aims to delete 25 lakh legitimate voters and replace them with new ones. “Our Chief Minister foresaw this, unlike Maharashtra’s opposition,” he said, urging vigilance to safeguard the electoral process.