‘Baseless and exaggerated’: Suvendu Adhikari writes to CEC, rejects Mamata Banerjee’s SIR claims

The Bengal LoP further alleged that the SIR exercise was affecting the ruling TMC's electoral prospects.

• Adhikari denies Banerjee's claims on Bengal voter roll revision
• Adhikari alleges SIR exposes bogus entries, TMC's secrets, and illegal voters
• Banerjee accuses ECI of misuse, lack of transparency in the SIR process

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West Bengal BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday, wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, strongly rejecting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s allegations regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.

In his letter, Adhikari described Banerjee’s claims as “baseless” and an attempt to obstruct a process that, according to him, is exposing irregularities in voter lists.

“Her claims are nothing but a desperate attempt to derail this crucial process, which is exposing the rot in our voter lists—bogus entries, duplicates and infiltrators that have been nurtured under TMC’s watch for years,” Adhikari said in a statement shared on social media platform X.

I have written to the Hon'ble Chief Election Commissioner of India, Shri Gyanesh Kumar, strongly countering the baseless, blown out of proportion and exaggerated allegations made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her letter dated January 10, 2026, regarding the Special… pic.twitter.com/ABBJV2fg24

— Suvendu Adhikari (@SuvenduWB) January 11, 2026

He further alleged that the SIR exercise was affecting the ruling TMC's electoral prospects. “This is damaging their electoral prospects, which is why she is resorting to hysteria,” he added.

Sharing details of the letter on X, Adhikari said he had written to the Chief Election Commissioner “strongly countering the exaggerated allegations” made by Banerjee in her letter dated January 10, 2026. Calling her concerns “pure fiction”, he claimed the revision exercise was bringing to light “fake voters, deceased voters and illegal infiltrators”.

“The ECI drive is throwing the spotlight on the TMC’s dirty secrets. It is clear that Mamata Banerjee is panicking because the SIR is a death knell for her 2026 ambitions,” Adhikari stated.

The controversy follows Banerjee’s letter to the Chief Election Commissioner earlier this month, in which she raised serious objections to the conduct of the SIR exercise in West Bengal.

In her January 3 letter, the Chief Minister alleged that Election Commission officials had misused IT systems, claiming voter names were deleted from backend systems without proper authorisation.

Banerjee had questioned who sanctioned such actions and under what legal authority they were carried out, asserting that the Election Commission must be held accountable for any “illegal, arbitrary or biased” activities under its supervision.

She also criticised the ECI for what she described as a lack of clarity on the objectives, procedures and timelines of the SIR. “Although the exercise is described as time-bound, there are no clearly defined, transparent or uniformly applicable timelines,” she wrote, adding that different states were following varying criteria.

In her letter, Banerjee further expressed concern over instructions being issued through informal channels.

“Shockingly, critical instructions are being issued almost daily, often via informal channels such as WhatsApp and text messages. No proper written notifications, circulars or statutory orders are being issued for an exercise of such constitutional significance,” she stated.

The Election Commission of India has maintained that the SIR exercise is aimed at updating and cleaning electoral rolls to ensure transparency and credibility in the voting process. The issue has intensified political tensions in West Bengal ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.