KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday assured citizens that the Trinamool Congress will not allow the "BJP Commission" to take away their right to vote, during a rally at Bonagon, a bellwether constituency along the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Mamata alleged that the BJP is strategically using the SIR drive to create panic among the masses. "But don’t get trapped by BJP. Don’t be panicked at all. We won’t let you leave. No one can get you out with panic when we the Trinamool Congress are with you," she said.

Mamata also criticised the ECI, claiming that voters in Matua-majority areas in the state would be "immediately delisted" if they declared themselves foreigners under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

The CM was addressing a TMC rally at Bongaon in North 24 Parganas, one of the strong citadels of the Matua community in the state. However, due to infighting within the All India Matua Mahasangha, Mamata did not visit Thakurbari in Thakurnagar, the spiritual centre of the Matuas that traditionally decides electoral fate political parties in more than 30 assembly constituencies in North 24 Parganas, Nadia and Jalpaiguri districts. The rally virtually kickstarted campaigning for the Assembly elections slated for April-May of 2026 and intensified the ongoing anti-SIR agitations.

"BJP has been offering certificates to you taking Rs 100 from so that you can include your names to the voters’ list. Their strategy is to show you Bangladeshis by offering the eligibility certificates in 2025 but the mapping was done in 2002 electoral rolls revision exercise," she stated.

Mamata slammed the BJP for using deceptive tactics and luring voters into applying for CAA cards. BJP, under the leadership of Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Thakur, had been distributing CAA cards from its makeshift camps to the Matuas at Tahakurnagar so that they could enroll their names in the electoral rolls.