(MENAFN- Live Mint) Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the BJP of committing fraud to win the Bihar elections, and also claimed that in trying to win West Bengal elections in 2026, the saffron party will end up losing Gujarat.

The BJP has been ruling Gujarat uninterrupted since 1990, and in the 2022 state elections, roared back to power by winning 156 out of the 182 seats in the state's assembly.

"I am making this prediction... the BJP is going to be defeated in Gujarat (Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state). To win Bengal they will lose Gujarat," Banerjee said during a protest march in the North 24 Parganas, as per NDTV.

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Banerjee herself has led three successful election campaigns against the BJP in West Bengal - in the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, and the 2021 Assembly elections. However, this time around, the BJP will be more confident after its big wins in Delhi and Bihar.

She also questioned the reason behind the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being carried out at a short notice.

"Why is the SIR being carried out so hurriedly? Why is the SIR being carried out before elections? Take three years and we will help you..." the publication quoted the Bengal CM as saying.

Banerjee even referred to the Election Commission as the 'BJP commission', saying, "It takes 3 years to conduct an SIR. It was last done in 2002. We never opposed SIR, but we said no genuine voters can be deleted, those who are beneficiaries of various government schemes...BJP is fixing the list from their party office and EC will decide accordingly. EC's job is to remain impartial and not be a BJP commission," as per India Today.

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"If you target me in Bengal and I consider any assault on my people as a personal attack, then I will shake the entire nation. I will travel the whole nation after elections," the publication also quoted her as saying.

Banerjee's chopper fiasco

Banerjee has also accused the BJP of being involved in the cancellation of a helicopter ride that was scheduled to take her to Bongaon on Tuesday morning.

After she was informed at 10 am in the morning that the helicopter will not be flying, the West Bengal CM had to travel by road. She reached Bongaon at 2 pm despite her speech at a rally being scheduled for 12:30 pm.

Bongaon is around 104 km from Kolkata.

"For the last seven-eight months, I did not travel by helicopter. Today I had planned to come here and then go to Thakurnagar. Everything was booked in advance. But at 10 in the morning, the message came that the helicopter won't go!" Banerjee said at the rally.

Banerjee then claimed that the inconvenience helped her connect more with people.

"Before elections begin, they have started creating hurdles. But it didn't help them. In fact, it helped me. On the way, I met so many people. It became a great public outreach," Banerjee said, as per PTI.

"Don't try to play with me. You won't be able to fight and defeat me politically," the TMC supremo said, in an apparent reference to the BJP.

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She insisted that she has mostly travelled by road and is not dependent on a helicopter.

Banerjee's rally comes in the wake of 35 deaths from across Bengal being linked to fear and anxiety induced by the SIR. Some of these deaths were reportedly suicides.

The Bengal CM has accused both the BJP and the Election Commission of creating an atmosphere of fear in the country using the SIR process. She insisted that West Bengal could resist attempts to 'snatch away' rights of the citizens.

Why was the helicopter unable to fly?

The Bengal CM's helicopter ride had to be canceled because it was discovered that the aircraft in question was operating with a licence that had expired, PTI reported.

The helicopter operator has also been issued a show cause notice.

The helicopter had not been used by the CM for six months and had completed a mandatory trial on Monday.

"The licence expiry should have been flagged immediately. Allowing the trial flight without verifying documents is unacceptable. The lapse in the licence, however, was not reported during the check. The issue came to light early Tuesday," an official told PTI.

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"This kind of negligence cannot be tolerated, especially in matters involving VVIP movement. She (CM) has asked for a full explanation," the official at the Chief Minister's Office said.

An inquiry has also been initiated to figure out how the oversight occurred and why no step was taken ahead of the CM's scheduled trip.

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