'Solely of deletion and exclusion': Mamata Banerjee writes to CEC Gyanesh Kumar on ‘mechanical’ SIR in West Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (File photo)

• Mamata Banerjee accuses EC of bias in West Bengal voter roll revision
• She leads protest against ED raids, alleging misuse of central agencies
• Calcutta HC adjourns ED raid hearings; TMC seeks restraint on document use

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the Election Commission of turning a routine electoral exercise into what she described as a voter exclusion drive, while simultaneously stepping up her political and street-level confrontation with central agencies ahead of the state assembly elections.

In a three-page letter written on Saturday to the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, Banerjee alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state was being conducted with bias and insensitivity. She claimed the process had strayed from its stated objective of updating voter records and was instead focused on deleting names.

“The hearing process has become largely mechanical, driven purely by technical data and completely devoid of the application of mind, sensitivity and human touch,” she wrote. According to her, the exercise appeared to have an aim “neither of correction nor of inclusion… but solely of deletion and of exclusion”.

Banerjee said ordinary voters were being subjected to coercive hearings over minor issues such as spelling errors or small age discrepancies, resulting in harassment and loss of wages. She drew particular attention to women who had changed their surnames after marriage and were allegedly being summoned to prove their identity. Such actions, she said, amounted to a “grave insult”. The chief minister also flagged concerns over selective scrutiny in certain constituencies, the use of a different portal for West Bengal, and backend changes that were causing confusion among officials implementing the exercise.

A day earlier, Banerjee had taken her confrontation with the Centre to the streets of Kolkata. Leading a massive protest march from the 8B Bus Stand area to Hazra More, she accused the BJP-led Union government of misusing central agencies after the Enforcement Directorate conducted raids linked to political consultancy firm I-PAC.

Flanked by senior Trinamool Congress leaders, Banerjee told supporters that the party would fight the battle “not only in courtrooms but also on the streets”. Addressing the rally after the nearly 10-km march, she alleged that the ED searches were aimed at accessing the TMC’s internal election strategy. “What I did yesterday, I did as the TMC chairperson. I have done nothing illegal,” she said, referring to her visits to the I-PAC office and the residence of one of its directors during the raids.

She claimed ED officials had entered the premises early in the morning and added, “By the time I reached later in the day, many things might already have been taken away.” Framing the issue as political survival, she asked, “If someone tries to kill me politically, don’t I have the right to defend myself?”

The political standoff spilled into the judiciary as the Calcutta High Court adjourned hearings related to the raids till January 14, citing chaos inside the courtroom. The ED has since moved the Supreme Court, alleging obstruction of its probe and claiming that “key incriminating documents” were seized and later “stolen” from its custody. The TMC, in turn, has sought restraint on what it called the “misuse and dissemination” of documents seized during the searches.

Banerjee accused central agencies of functioning as “political tools” and warned the BJP against underestimating Bengal. “If someone tries to hit me politically, I get politically rejuvenated and reborn,” she said, ending with a blunt message on the upcoming polls: “It will not be our fall, it will be yours.”