West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday mounted a sharp attack on the Election Commission after a nearly 90-minute meeting.
With Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, alleging large-scale deletion of voters’ names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and accusing the poll panel of acting under BJP influence. Addressing reporters after the meeting, Banerjee claimed voters’ names were being removed over minor spelling variations and title changes common in Bengal. “They first deleted people’s names. The Election Commissioner is working like the BJP’s IT cell. Is this democracy?” she asked.
She said surnames such as Banerjee and Bandyopadhyay, Mukherjee and Mukhopadhyay, or Chatterjee and Chattopadhyay were being treated as discrepancies. “In Bengal, surnames and titles change. They are calling this an anomaly and striking names off,” she said.
Banerjee alleged that nearly 58 lakh voters had been removed from electoral rolls without hearings. “They didn’t even ask,” she said, claiming booth-level officers (BLOs) were under pressure during the revision. The chief minister also 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 exercise, Banerjee asked why the revision was being conducted close to elections. “Why this hurry before the polls? States going to elections should have been left out,” she said.
She also alleged selective targeting, claiming the SIR was not conducted in BJP-ruled Assam. “You are targeting Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, but not Assam because there is a BJP government,” she said.
Banerjee further alleged that while other states were allowed to rely on documents such as land records and Madhyamik certificates, Bengal was subjected to different rules.
Escalating her attack, she said, “This is not the Election Commission. This is not the CEC. This is a BJP agent.”
‘Humiliated, given garbage of lies’
Banerjee said she walked out of the meeting in protest. “I boycotted and stepped out. We were misbehaved with. We were humiliated,” she said. “The CEC gave us a garbage of lies. We came here seeking justice but were given injustice,” she added, alleging violation of Supreme Court rulings and restrictions on media near the Election Commission premises.
“I have never seen this kind of Chief Election Commissioner,” Banerjee said.
CEC rejects TMC charges: sources
Sources familiar with the meeting said the CEC strongly rejected the Trinamool Congress delegation’s allegations and asserted that the rule of law would prevail. According to sources, the Commission warned that anyone taking the law into their own hands would face strict action under powers vested in the Election Commission.
The poll panel also raised concerns over alleged misconduct by Trinamool leaders, with sources claiming that some TMC MLAs had used abusive and threatening language against election officials and that incidents of vandalisation of Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) offices were flagged.
The CEC reportedly made it clear that no pressure or obstruction would be tolerated during the SIR exercise.
BLO payments, staffing issues raised
The Commission also highlighted administrative concerns, including delays in honorarium payments to BLOs. Of the sanctioned Rs 18,000 per BLO, only Rs 7,000 has been released so far, sources said.
It also flagged that EROs and assistant EROs deployed for the SIR were not of the rank of sub-divisional magistrates or tehsildars, affecting the efficiency of the exercise.
Black protest with affected families
Earlier in the day, 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 individuals declared dead despite being alive and relatives of people who allegedly died due to stress linked to the revision exercise. Security was tightened outside the Election Commission during the visit. Banerjee also echoed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in Parliament, saying the controversy had disrupted proceedings. “If the BJP stays, only then your chair stays. Today you may save your chair, tomorrow you can’t,” she said.
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