New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Yusuf Pathan, one of the MPs who switched from the Trinamool Congress to the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), on Thursday said people in Bengal, Murshidabad, Baharampur and across the country were raising their voices for their right to vote.
Pathan’s remarks came as NCPI national president Jyoti Prokash Chatterjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the nation’s highest recognition for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for his role in conducting the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
“People in Bengal, Murshidabad, Baharampur and across the country are raising their voice for their right to vote. At such a time, would I recommend an award?” Pathan said in a post on X.
“I have not written any such letter,” he said.
“To those making up stories in my name, I have only this to say: if there is a letter, make a copy of it public,” Pathan said, adding, “Show the evidence, otherwise consider it fake and a misuse of my name.”
“Today, what is needed is not rumours, but the truth and a voice for the people’s rights,” he said.
Chatterjee, in his letter to Modi, praised the Election Commission under Gyanesh Kumar’s leadership and said the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls were held without bloodshed, intimidation or electoral malpractice. Referring to the state’s history of political violence and allegations of electoral irregularities, he said the conduct of the polls helped restore voters’ confidence in the electoral process.
He said Kumar deserves the nation’s highest recognition.
The NCPI, a little-known political outfit, emerged as a new player in Bengal politics after 20 TMC MPs crossed over following Mamata Banerjee’s defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections. The breakaway MPs subsequently extended support to the BJP-led NDA. The NCPI is not fielding candidates in the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bypolls, and Chatterjee has said the party would campaign for the BJP nominees as part of its alignment with the NDA.
On August 6, Pathan, along with fellow NCPI MPs Abu Taher Khan and Khalilur Rahaman, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and submitted a memorandum raising concerns over the deletion of genuine voters from electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. The MPs said a large number of genuine voters whose names had been deleted were awaiting tribunal decisions and have been facing difficulties in passport verification, land registration and access to government welfare schemes.
They sought fast-tracking of pending cases, additional tribunal benches and a grievance redressal mechanism to ensure that genuine citizens were not denied essential public services while their cases remained pending.
The three MPs had also attended a breakfast meeting hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 7, while maintaining that they were not part of the NDA and had attended the meeting to raise public issues. PTI AO RUK
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