Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, who on Thursday met Trinamool Congress supremo and outgoing Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, alleged that democracy in Bengal had been undermined and voters could not exercise their franchise freely during the Assembly elections.
In a clear show of solidarity with Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress suffered a decisive defeat to the BJP in the elections, Yadav arrived at her residence, where a closed-door meeting was held between the two leaders.
After the meeting, the Samajwadi Party chief said, “The way they insulted democracy and Didi (Banerjee), due to which her voters were not allowed to vote. This responsibility lies with the central forces. Will you conduct the elections in such a way that you will not allow the agents of political parties to sit there, and then prepare for how many voters are to be cut in which booths by implementing SIR?”
Yadav alleged that during the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State, massive voter deletions were carried out in the booths, where Trinamool Congress had a “strong” vote bank. “Who gave this right? This is the biggest murder of democracy. Therefore, our appeal to all the political parties would be that at least we should be seen standing together on this question.” he said.
The BJP on Monday recorded a historic landslide victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections and is heading towards forming its government in the eastern State for the first time. The BJP’s win ends 15-year of TMC rule and marks a watershed moment for the saffron party, which won 207 seats, reducing the Trinamool to just 80 in the 294-member Assembly.
“When the elections happened honestly, she (Banerjee) won. But this time, because of the multi-layered ‘mafiagiri’ that happened in the polls, no one could have imagined that this kind of fraud could be done by the BJP, the Election Commission, their associates, the spies, and the underground people together, to do such elections,” Yadav added.
A day after her party suffered the major defeat in the elections, Banerjee on Tuesday said she would not resign as the Chief Minister. She claimed her party “did not lose” the elections. Rather, the entire electoral process was “rigged” in BJP’s favour.
“We have not been defeated. I have not been defeated. I will not resign. There is no question of my going to the Raj Bhawan,” she said at a press conference.
Reacting sharply to Akhilesh Yadav’s meeting with Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, BJP’s West Bengal president Samik Bhattacharya dismissed the political significance of the interaction. “Zero plus zero is equal to zero, zero minus zero result is zero,” Bhattacharya said.
Published on May 7, 2026