Every day there is a clash between the ruling party of West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on some issue or the other. A political uproar broke out in the state's Bankura district on Tuesday when TMC workers caught a vehicle allegedly carrying BJP workers and carrying thousands of Form-7s, which are used to object to entries in the voter list. Because of this, a heated debate started between the ruling party and the opposition.
The incident took place in Khatra sub division, where TMC workers claimed that they stopped a white four-wheeler coming from Taldangra because they suspected that it was carrying a large number of Form-7 applications, which are used to remove names from the voter list due to reasons like death or transfer of voters.
Later the police took the vehicle and documents into their custody, while the Khatra police has started investigating the matter. TMC leaders alleged that the forms were pre-filled and were being taken in large numbers with the intention of removing names of “legitimate voters” during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of the voter list.
After the incident, Minister of State Jyotsna Mandi and Bankura Organizational District TMC President Tarashankar Ray also reached Khatra Police Station. Mandi alleged, "Bundles of filled Form 7 were being carried together. This clearly shows that the names of legitimate voters were removed by any means," while Ray claimed that BJP workers had "filled hundreds of such forms while sitting in the party office".
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also reiterated this allegation from the state secretariat Nabanna and showed photographs of the seized forms. "This is how names are being removed. Piles of files, sacks of papers. This is a conspiracy to take away the right to vote," he said, accusing the opposition BJP of "stealing information and murdering democracy".
However, these allegations were rejected by the BJP and accused the ruling party of intimidation and violence. Former Union minister and BJP leader Subhash Sarkar said the party's booth-level agents were legally submitting Form-7 objections to the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, as officials had earlier refused to accept them. “Our workers were attacked, forms were snatched, while two party workers are missing,” he alleged.
The controversy escalated when BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, through his post on X, accused TMC of kidnapping a BJP worker near Khatra SDO office because he was “doing what the Constitution allows”. He alleged that party workers were thrown out of the police station, while “about 60 TMC workers were camped inside, and the security area was converted into a threatening party office”.
Malviya further wrote, “BJP will not bow down…Bengal will not be intimidated,” and also warned that the 2026 elections will be about “saving democracy.”
Amidst this rising tension, West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya gave a stern warning to the Election Commission, saying that if his objections under the SIR process were not addressed, the party would not allow elections to be held in the state. He also accused the state government and TMC of trying to conduct elections with a “bad voter list” in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. He requested Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to visit districts like Murshidabad, Hooghly, Birbhum and South 24 Parganas to take stock of the ground situation.
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Amid the ongoing controversy, the Election Commission said Form 7 is available on its website and any voter can submit it, and stressed that submission of the form does not automatically remove the name. “Every objection is examined through due process before any decision is taken,” officials said.
