The BJP central leadership has directed the state unit to eliminate inflated membership figures and focus on presenting an accurate and realistic picture, moving away from the fabricated and overly optimistic reports previously submitted by state leaders.

The BJP’s Bengal minder Sunil Bansal in a recent organisational meeting in Calcutta also stressed that all members of booth, mandal and district-level committees must be elected, eliminating the possibility of district leadership placing their close associates in booth-level committees.

“According to Bansalji, the biggest problem of Bengal BJP is favouritism where the district and mandal secretaries put their close ones in responsible posts and the party has to pay for these incompetent postings. People should hold responsible positions based on their competence and not because they are close to the state or district committees. The election process is a step towards that goal,” said a senior BJP leader.

Earlier, in an effort to bridge the gap between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ BJP in the state and strengthen the party’s position for the crucial 2026 Assembly elections, Bansal had instructed that all block, mandal and state committees formed between January 17 and 25 must include at least 33 per cent of the party’s old workers.

Party sources revealed that an internal committee’s analysis of the Lok Sabha debacle, which saw the BJP’s seats drop from 18 to 12 in the state, identified internal bickering and inflated or incorrect information as the two main reasons for the loss of seats.

“Bansalji, who has given success to the party in states like Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, is trying to rectify the mistake in Bengal and prepare the BJP for the 2026 Assembly polls. He told us that while we need to concentrate on all booths, we must strengthen booths where we have our organisation in place,” the leader said.

“If forming committees in all 80,000 booths is unfeasible, the party should avoid creating inflated records. Instead, submit the actual number of functional committees, even if it’s 50,000 or fewer. There should be an honest organisational assessment so that we can strategise accordingly for elections,” another leader said.

The state unit has also been directed to regularly engage with the party’s 48 lakh primary members and reach out to their close aides, aiming to connect with at least 1.5 crore people over the next six months to bolster the party’s grassroots network.

“I stressed that if we claim to have 30 members, we should have evidence to back it up. Now, Bansalji is saying the same thing,” said BJP state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar.

“Earlier, we lacked proper documentation of our members. This time, the membership system has been designed so that it prevents us from hiding or inflating numbers. Everything is digital, giving us the opportunity to regularly engage with our members, which will benefit us in the 2026 Assembly polls,” he added.