71% of Omitted Voters in West Bengal Are Muslims, 51% Women: Claims Mahua Moitra
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra raised severe allegations against the Election Commission during a symbolic ‘public impeachment’ organized by the opposition INDIA bloc in New Delhi on Saturday, October 31. She stated that 71 percent of voters removed from West Bengal’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision process were Muslims, while 51 percent were women. Characterizing the operation as a Machiavellian plot, she accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of functioning as a puppet acting under instructions from PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to undermine democratic institutions.
The symbolic impeachment event was organized by the INDIA alliance to challenge the integrity of the voter revision process and address widespread voter deletions. Mallikarjun Kharge, Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition and Congress President, introduced a symbolic motion outlining six key charges against CEC Gyanesh Kumar, including aiding vote theft and illegally modifying Form 6 to benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. The program featured participation from political leaders, civil society figures, and affected citizens who voiced concerns regarding the erosion of voting rights.
Joining the critique, Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi asserted that systemic voter exclusions significantly cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In a post on X, he claimed that nearly 13.3 crore voters were omitted nationwide, a figure larger than the victory margin between the opposition alliance and the ruling coalition. Warning of future legal accountability, Rahul Gandhi remarked that the actions of the Election Commission leadership amounted to high treason, while Congress MP Shashi Tharoor praised the gathering as a dignified prelude to the bloc’s upcoming national rally.
In response, the Bharatiya Janata Party firmly rejected all claims and strongly condemned the opposition’s symbolic proceeding. Senior BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad criticized the initiative, stating that the Congress party and its allies were openly mocking national constitutional institutions. He rejected the allegations of electoral tampering as baseless rhetoric and challenged opposition leaders to substantiate their assertions. Meanwhile, the statistics cited by Mahua Moitra during the proceedings remain her personal allegations and could not be independently verified from immediately available official records.
The opposition’s symbolic trial serves as a precursor to a massive joint demonstration scheduled for November 1 at Delhi’s historic Ramlila Maidan. Top regional leaders, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, have already arrived in the capital to align strategies and display unified resistance against the Election Commission’s voter roll operations. Opposition leaders intend to escalate the issue of voter roll deletions into a national campaign to demand greater transparency and institutional accountability ahead of future electoral cycles.
