West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Slams ECI Over Transferring Of 73 Returning Officers

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Slams ECI Over Transferring Of 73 Returning Officers

Uncertainty persisted after West Bengal’s first supplementary voter list was released early Tuesday, with many claiming no clear updates online. State Election Commissioner Manoj Agarwal reportedly gave no exact figures. CM Mamata Banerjee accused ECI of bias over transferring 73 officers and questioned the timing, alleging attempts to favour a political party.

Aritra SinghaUpdated: Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 01:24 AM IST
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Slams ECI Over Transferring Of 73 Returning Officers
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee (File image) | PTI

Kolkata: Uncertainty continues in voter’s list even after the first supplementary list got published in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Several people whose names were under adjudication complained that the website was not showing any concrete results.

State Election Commissioner Manoj Agarwal also could not say anything concrete when asked about the exact numbers of names that were put up on the first supplementary list.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, ahead of leaving for North Bengal for an election campaign slammed Election Commission of India (ECI) for transferring 73 returning officers, including one in the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, in the state.

“Earlier 60-70 officers were changed and now suddenly 73 officers got transferred. ECI had brought the BDO of Nandigram to Bhabanipur. I know why they are doing this. They are transferring traitor’s men to Bhabanipur,” said Mamata without naming anyone.

Referring to a notification of ECI with the stamp of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mamata urged everyone to unite against BJP.

“Now the cat is out of the bag. With BJP’s symbol in ECI’s notification it is clear that they are working to give an advantage to a particular political party. Why is ECI afraid? They can’t take away people’s right to vote. Why can’t they make clear statements about how many names got deleted,” further added Mamata.

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Notably, the state election commissioner of Kerala had issued a statement that it was a ‘clerical mistake’ where BJP’s stamp was given on a notification published on ECI’s letterhead. The Keral SEC also mentioned that the one who had done it was suspended.

Referring to this statement the West Bengal Chief Minister questioned whether it was a ‘clerical mistake’ or ‘political vendetta’.

Mamata also questioned ECI, the reason for publishing the supplementary list in the wee hours.