Mamata in Siliguri meets church officials, to kick off her north Bengal poll drive today
The Statesman | 25 March 2026
Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee is set to launch her North Bengal election campaign from Wednesday with a high-stakes tour of key constituencies, even as she mounted a blistering attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging bias and attempts to undermine voters’ rights.
The Trinamul Congress chief arrived at Chalsa in the Dooars on Tuesday and held a closed-door meeting with leaders of the Christian community, signalling an aggressive outreach to minority and tea-garden populations ahead of the Assembly elections. She was received by local residents and members of the clergy, including church fathers from across the tea belt.
During the interaction, Banerjee engaged with representatives of multiple churches from the plantation region, home to large tribal communities and thousands of women tea workers. Political observers view the meeting as a calculated move to consolidate support in a region that has traditionally witnessed intense multi-cornered contests.
From Wednesday, the Chief Minister will address rallies in the Maynaguri and Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly segments in Jalpaiguri district before moving to the politically sensitive Matigara-Naxalbari constituency in the Siliguri subdivision ~ effectively kicking off the Trinamul Congress’s North Bengal campaign from Maynaguri.
Hours before flying to Bagdogra from Kolkata, Banerjee launched a scathing attack on the ECI, alleging that an official notification carried the BJP’s election symbol and questioning the constitutional body’s neutrality. She also claimed that sweeping transfers of officials and the late-night release of supplementary voter lists pointed to a “partisan agenda.”
Banerjee contended that additions to the voter rolls occurred only after intervention by the Supreme Court and demanded full transparency, warning that citizens across states and Union Territories were allegedly being deprived of their voting rights. Calling for a united stand, she urged all political parties to set aside differences to defend democracy and ensure free and fair elections.
She further appealed to the media to scrutinise the developments and alert the public, asserting that safeguarding constitutional rights was a collective responsibility at a critical juncture in the electoral process.