West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission after a nearly 90-minute meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging large-scale deletion of voters’ names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and accusing the poll panel of functioning at the behest of the BJP.
Emerging from the meeting, Banerjee told reporters that voters’ claims were being cancelled over minor spelling variations and title changes common in Bengal. “They first removed people’s names. The Election Commissioner is the BJP’s IT cell. You say this is a democracy?” she said.
Banerjee said names were being deleted even due to spelling differences, such as Banerjee and Bandyopadhyay, Mukherjee and Mukhopadhyay, or Chatterjee and Chattopadhyay.
“In Bengal, surnames change. People change their titles. They are cutting names because of title changes,” she said, adding that such differences were being flagged as “anomalies” to strike names off the electoral rolls. She claimed that as many as 58 lakh voters had been removed without being given a hearing. “They didn’t even ask,” she said.
The chief minister alleged that booth-level officers (BLOs) were being pressurised during the exercise. “There is pressure on the BLOs,” she said.
Banerjee further alleged that Scheduled Castes and minorities were being disproportionately affected. “Why are SCs and minorities being targeted? Are they not human beings?” she asked.
‘WHY NO SIR IN BJP-RULED ASSAM?’
Questioning the timing of the revision, Banerjee asked why the exercise was being carried out just ahead of elections. “Why the hurry before the election? You should have left the states going to polls,” she said.
She also alleged selective targeting by the poll panel. “In Assam there is a BJP government, so you didn’t do SIR there. You are targeting Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and leaving a BJP-ruled state,” she said.
Banerjee claimed that while other states were allowed to use documents such as land records and Madhyamik certificates, the rules were altered for Bengal.
Escalating her attack, Banerjee said, “This is not the Election Commission. This is not the CEC. This is a BJP agent. An agent.”
HUMILIATED, GIVEN GARBAGE OF LIES: MAMATA
Banerjee said she eventually stepped out of the meeting. “I boycotted and stepped out. This election commissioner is very arrogant. We have been misbehaved with. We have been humiliated,” she said.
Claiming that the delegation had come seeking justice, Banerjee said, “The CEC gave us a garbage of lies. We came here for justice but were given injustice.”
She alleged that the Commission justified the SIR by blaming Trinamool for raising the issue of duplicate voters, and accused the poll panel of violating Supreme Court verdicts and restricting media access near the ECI. “I have never seen this kind of Chief Election Commissioner,” Banerjee said.
CEC PUSHES BACK ON TMC CLAIMS: SOURCES
However, sources familiar with the meeting said the CEC strongly pushed back against the Trinamool delegation’s allegations and asserted that the rule of law would prevail.
According to sources, the CEC told the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) delegation that anyone taking the law into their own hands would be dealt with strictly under the provisions of law and the powers vested in the Election Commission.
The poll panel also flagged concerns over the conduct of Trinamool leaders, with sources claiming that TMC MLAs had been openly using abusive and threatening language against the Commission, particularly against the CEC, and had also threatened election officials engaged in SIR work.
Sources further said the Commission raised incidents of vandalisation of Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) offices, located in SDO and BDO premises, allegedly by TMC workers and MLAs.
The CEC made it clear that no pressure, obstruction or interference of any kind should be exerted on officers carrying out SIR-related work.
BLO PAYMENTS, STAFFING GAPS FLAGGED
During the meeting, the Commission also raised administrative issues related to the SIR exercise. According to sources, the CEC pointed out that honorarium payments to booth-level officers should be released on time.
Only Rs 7,000 of the sanctioned Rs 18,000 per BLO has been paid so far, sources said, stressing that delays were affecting field-level work.
The Commission also flagged that the EROs and assistant EROs deployed for SIR were not of the level of sub-divisional magistrates or tehsildars, impacting the efficiency of the exercise.
BLACK PROTEST WITH SIR-AFFECTED FAMILIES
Earlier, Banerjee, along with Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and MP Kalyan Banerjee, met the CEC along with 12 family members allegedly affected by the SIR process. The delegation wore black as a mark of protest.
The families included people who are alive but were declared dead in official records, and relatives of individuals who allegedly died due to stress linked to the revision exercise. Police security was stepped up outside the ECI during the visit.
Banerjee also echoed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in Parliament, saying the ongoing row had disrupted proceedings. “If the BJP stays, only then your chair stays. Today you can save your chair, tomorrow you can’t,” she said.
