Abhishek to brief 1L BLAs; eyes on 35 low-margin seats
Times of India | 25 December 2025
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will hold a virtual meeting with over 1 lakh party booth-level agents (BLAs), with a special focus on 35 assembly segments that witnessed a victory margin of 5,000 votes or less in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. According to TMC sources, Election Commission (EC) data shows that in 135 of the 294 assembly segments, the number of voter deletions exceeded the winning margin in the last parliamentary election.
Sources stated that Abhishek will first hold a virtual meeting with over 5,000 party workers on Dec 26, followed by the larger meeting with the BLAs on Dec 28.
Abhishek's schedule follows chief minister Mamata Banerjee's address to BLAs at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Monday. She urged them to remain alert as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) enters its most crucial phase, which involves hearings and the inclusion of new voters. Trinamool has been tracking the SIR exercise through its Didir Doot app, utilizing feedback provided by the BLAs.
A party source explained, "On average, there are 1.5%-2% deletions in the voter list annually due to deceased voters. The SIR draft list also reflects around 2% deceased voters. While voting percentages vary, roughly 15%-20% of voters typically do not cast their ballots. The SIR deletion list currently includes approximately 59 lakh names, constituting about 7.7% of the total electorate. This, in itself, is not a major cause for concern. The real challenge lies with the roughly 1.7 crore voters earmarked for verification due to alleged discrepancies. These voters will be called for hearings, and it is here that the BLAs must remain extremely cautious. Every hearing is now important."