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The TMC has also reached out to the Congress leadership as Opposition parties work towards a meeting next week to decide their next course of action.
TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee (L), CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby (R) (Image: PTI)
Bitter political rivals in West Bengal for decades, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M) have opened communication channels as Opposition parties look to join forces over the growing controversy surrounding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, News18 has learnt.
Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby spoke at length over the phone on Friday evening, with efforts now underway to convene a meeting of the INDIA bloc and other Opposition parties as early as next week.
The proposed meeting is expected to focus on the demand for Kumar’s ouster and criminal proceedings against him, with a joint press conference also being planned as part of a wider Opposition campaign.
Mamata Speaks To Baby After His Opposition Outreach
The phone call came after Baby wrote to Opposition leaders seeking a meeting over developments surrounding the Election Commission.
Banerjee first sent a written response to Baby and subsequently spoke to him over the phone on Friday.
During the conversation, she urged him to convene a meeting of INDIA bloc parties at the earliest, sources told News18.
Baby, in turn, proposed bringing other Opposition parties into the meeting as well. Banerjee agreed, with the two leaders discussing the way forward at length.
Banerjee also called for Opposition parties to come together and take the issue to the streets at the earliest.
The outreach has also extended to the Congress, with the TMC, through Banerjee and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, speaking to its top leadership.
What Is The Controversy Over Gyanesh Kumar?
The Opposition offensive against Kumar intensified after an Indian Express investigation reported an “unprecedented rupture” within the Election Commission, with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raising objections at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions and processes concerning the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
According to the report, the two commissioners said some decisions were taken without their knowledge and flagged concerns over voter registration, deletion and restoration of names, changes to Form 6 and access to the electoral-roll database.
In one written objection, Sandhu said the Election Commission had acted against the written advice of two commissioners and described the action as “unauthorised and illegal”. Sandhu and Joshi also separately wrote to the Cabinet Secretary over changes concerning oversight of the IT systems underpinning the electoral rolls.
The Election Commission, however, has rejected suggestions that the objections point to a breakdown within the poll panel. It said differing views and observations were part of institutional deliberations and maintained that decisions taken by the full Commission over the past year, including those concerning the SIR, were unanimous.
The controversy has triggered protests by Opposition parties, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) among those targeting Kumar over the functioning of the poll body.
BJP Backs Gyanesh Kumar
The BJP, meanwhile, has strongly backed Kumar amid the Opposition offensive. West Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya said the CEC deserved the Padma Bhushan, crediting him with keeping intimidation at bay during this year’s West Bengal elections and taking steps to remove the names of alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators from the electoral rolls.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also rejected the Opposition’s allegations, arguing that differing views among Election Commissioners during official deliberations were a reflection of the democratic process rather than evidence of wrongdoing.
West Bengal minister Dilip Ghosh also hit out at the Opposition, questioning the political standing of Banerjee and the CPI(M) and arguing that neither had much political ground left.
Taking aim at Rahul Gandhi, Ghosh said the Congress leader had little political ground left and was therefore going after Gyanesh Kumar. He also accused the Congress of having weakened constitutional institutions in the past and of targeting them when politically convenient. Ghosh argued that the Congress itself is responsible if people are not voting for it and that the Election Commission cannot be blamed for its electoral setbacks.
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Ask News18Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby spoke over the phone following a media report revealing an unprecedented rupture within the Election Commission, where two election commissioners raised objections at least 14 times over various decisions.
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Pallavi Ghosh has covered politics and Parliament for 15 years, and has reported extensively on Congress, UPA-I and UPA-II, and has now included the Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog in her reportage. S…Read More
September 26, 2026, 11:54 IST
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