A pointed allegation has landed in India's electoral debate: TMC MP Mahua Moitra declared on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 that the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer has admitted to 'vote chori' — vote theft — in a sworn affidavit filed before the Election Commission of India (ECI). The claim, if substantiated, would mark a rare instance of an electoral authority acknowledging malpractice on the record.

What the affidavit allegation means

Moitra's post is precise in its framing: she is not citing a news report or a party spokesperson — she is pointing to an affidavit filed by the state's own Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and submitted to the ECI. An affidavit carries the weight of a sworn legal statement. If the CEO has indeed used language that concedes irregularities amounting to vote theft, that is an extraordinary departure from the Commission's typically guarded institutional communication.

The ECI, a constitutional body under Article 324, holds supreme authority over the conduct of elections. Its own officers making sworn admissions of electoral fraud would open the door to legal proceedings, fresh scrutiny of voter rolls, and demands for re-polling. Opposition MPs — and courts — have in the past used such admissions as triggers for deeper investigation.

West Bengal's long history of contested elections

West Bengal has been a flashpoint for electoral disputes across decades. Allegations of booth capturing, voter list manipulation, and intimidation have been raised by both the ruling All India Trinamool Congress and the BJP in successive cycles. Multiple petitions concerning electoral rolls and alleged irregularities were filed before the ECI and courts ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, making the state a recurring subject of Commission scrutiny.

Moitra, who represents Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal's Nadia district, has consistently used both parliament and social media to spotlight what she describes as failures of electoral governance in the state. Her track record of raising sharp, document-backed challenges gives this post added weight — though the specific contents of the affidavit she references remain to be verified in full.

The pressure now on ECI to respond

The Commission faces a narrowing set of options. If the affidavit says what Moitra claims, silence would invite judicial and parliamentary pressure. A rebuttal would require the ECI to explain its own officer's sworn language. Either way, the post sets the clock ticking on a formal response.

Expect parliamentary questions, potential public-interest litigation, and opposition pressure for the full text of the affidavit to be placed on record. The integrity of West Bengal's voter rolls — and by extension the credibility of any upcoming electoral exercise in the state — now sits squarely at the centre of this storm.