In the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, the BJP suffered a blow in West Bengal as it could win only 12 of the total 42 constituencies – six less than its 2019 tally. In the bypolls to four Assembly constituencies held last week, the BJP failed to retain the three seats it had held earlier, while the ruling TMC swept the election.

“I have launched a portal where genuine voters can register their names, who were not allowed to vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the recently concluded Assembly bypolls. Whoever was not allowed to vote, can register themselves; and full secrecy will be ensured,” BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said.

Adhikari alleged that nearly 50 lakh Hindus were not allowed to vote in the state during the Lok Sabha polls.
“Democracy is dead in Bengal… Nearly 50 lakh Hindus were not allowed to vote in the Lok Sabha elections. More than two lakh Hindus were not allowed to vote in the four Assembly bypolls held in the state,” Adhikari alleged.

“We have started a mass movement today… I will also start a legal battle,” the BJP leader added.

Earlier at a demonstration held outside the Raj Bhavan over alleged post-poll violence, Adhikari had announced that 100 “genuine voters” who were deprived of exercising their democratic rights in the bypolls and Lok Sabha elections would be assembled before the Governor’s House to “expose terror and intimidation unleashed by the TMC during voting”.

Reacting to it, the TMC said the BJP’s move was “nothing but to suppress their faults”. “They (BJP) are now frustrated after repeated rejection by people of West Bengal. They are now looking for excuses. Instead of doing such rubbish things, they should face the reality,” TMC minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said.