Trinamool Congress is organising a street march through Kolkata on Tuesday, directing its complaints at both the central government and the Election Commission. The procession comes one day after the party staged a demonstration in New Delhi.
The march, organised by the party's student and youth wings, is scheduled to depart from Rajabazar at 2 pm and proceed to Park Circus. Questions over whether party leader Mamata Banerjee will attend, and whether the party has secured the necessary police authorisation, remain unanswered.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said he intends to take part in the protest march but noted that Banerjee's ability to attend is uncertain given her ongoing commitments in Delhi. When asked whether police had granted permission for the event, Ghosh indicated he had no firm answer and suggested approval was unlikely to come through.
Among the demands the party has put forward to underpin the planned demonstration is a call for Gyanesh Kumar's removal from the Chief Election Commissioner's office and his detention, on the grounds that he allegedly facilitated electoral fraud. Plans are also in place to raise objections over Banerjee's detention in Delhi, alongside what the group described as the broader curtailment of opposition voices and democratic participation.
Banerjee issued a call to the student, youth, trade union, and women's wings of the party, urging their members to take part. On Monday, party volunteers moved through Kolkata's residential areas, knocking on doors to build electoral support.
Suvendu Adhikari, who leads opposition efforts in West Bengal, commented on the planned march, describing the venue the organisers had selected as fitting for the occasion. No elaboration followed the remark, though the march route passes through Rajabazar and Park Circus, both of which have a notable non-majority community presence.
Adhikari further charged that opposition parties had aligned themselves with what he described as "Dimagi Naxals" and forces he characterised as anti-national, with the stated aim of undermining the BJP-led administration at the Centre. He attributed the demonstrations surrounding the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls to a coordinated effort by unseen forces, an assertion he advanced without presenting any corroborating evidence.
Visitor numbers at pandals around Kolkata have been building as the city moves toward Durga Puja, a period during which the march has also been scheduled. A number of pandal openings are listed among Adhikari's planned engagements on Tuesday.
Vehicular flow along the Rajabazar, CIT Road, and Park Circus corridor is expected to remain congested through the pre-festival period, with the procession's path through those stretches placing additional pressure on traffic operations.