Workers pluck tea leaves amid misty rain, at a tea estate in Kalimpong, West Bengal. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday (March 3, 2026) claimed that thousands of adivasi tea garden workers and a significant section of the Rajbanshi people in North Bengal have seen their names either deleted or unjustly placed under “adjudication” in the final electoral roll.
Describing the development as a political conspiracy by the BJP, the Trinamool Congress said that the influence of the BJP is eroding in the belts in the tea gardens.
“Faced with an impending defeat, they now appear determined to suppress the votes of the tea workers and tribal communities. We stand firmly with every Adivasi family and every legitimate voter. We will challenge this injustice through every democratic channel available, because democracy belongs to the people, not to any partisan agenda,” the Trinamool Congress posted on social media.
The allegation by the Trinamool comes after the release of the draft electoral roll of about 7.04 crore voters in the State after the completion of four month long SIR. The electoral roll includes about 60 lakh electors who are under adjudication.
In January, the ECI allowed records of Tea Gardens and Cinchona plantations as documents for SIR 2026. The BJP leadership had raised the demand to include records of Tea gardens and Cinchona plantations in the SIR documents. BJP has relatively a stronger influence in North Bengal than in South Bengal and is expected to perform better in the ensuing assembly polls. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will sit on a dharna against ECI on March 6 in Kolkata.
Former West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar stating that the dates of the election should be announced after adjudication of 60 lakh electors is completed. Expressing deep concern over the omission of a large number of names from the draft voter list the Congress leader said that it was the constitutional duty of the Election Commission to ensure that no genuine Indian citizen is deprived of the right to vote.
Published – March 04, 2026 07:06 am IST
