Sat Jun 28 07:16:52 UTC 2025: **News Article:**
**TMC Accuses Election Commission of “Backdoor NRC” with Electoral Roll Revision**
New Delhi, June 28, 2025 – The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has strongly criticized the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) announcement of a special intensive revision of the electoral roll in Bihar, calling it a “sinister move to bring NRC (National Register of Citizens) through the backdoor.”
At a press conference in New Delhi, TMC MP Derek O’Brien, alongside party leader Sagarika Ghose, questioned the timing of the drive, especially in light of upcoming state assembly polls in Bengal next year. He alleged that the BJP’s internal surveys show a decline in their popularity in Bengal and that this revision is an attempt to manipulate the electoral outcome.
“Why is this exercise being suddenly done right now? We have evidence as to why it is being done now,” O’Brien stated, further alleging that the BJP is desperate to change the political landscape.
The ECI issued instructions on June 24 to conduct the intensive revision in Bihar, citing the need to remove ineligible names and ensure all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll. The exercise aims to bring complete transparency to the addition and deletion of electors. The last intensive revision for Bihar was conducted in 2003.
O’Brien asserted that the INDIA bloc parties stand united against this move and will raise the issue both inside and outside Parliament. He emphasized the urgency of the matter, stating, “We will not wait for Parliament to start. This cannot wait.”
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has also expressed concerns, urging the ECI to abandon the exercise in a letter citing the major responsibility for inclusion or deletion from the electoral rolls being imposed on the voters themselves.
The ECI plans to conduct similar electoral roll reviews in five states – Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal – by the end of the year, ahead of the 2026 assembly elections in those states.
First Piper 