09 April (TSP Bangla) – Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday sharply criticised what she described as a BJP-Election Commission “got-up game” in the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. She said she would once again move court to challenge what she called large-scale deletions of voters’ names.
Questioning the process, Banerjee asked why tribunals had been set up to hear appeals from those left out of the rolls if the voter list for the 2026 Assembly elections was to be “frozen” before these bodies could complete their work.
Speaking shortly after filing her nomination for the Bhabanipur seat at Alipore’s Survey Building, the Trinamool Congress chief alleged that the process had been “deviously designed” to remove names of voters opposed to the BJP, including those likely to support her party.
Addressing supporters in Alipore and at campaign rallies in Hooghly, Mamata Banerjee framed the 2026 Assembly elections as a decisive battle to protect people’s right to their homeland.
She criticised what she described as a flawed framework adopted by the Election Commission under Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, noting that the approach appeared unique to Bengal among states undergoing the special intensive revision (SIR). Banerjee questioned the effectiveness of legal remedies, arguing that the process meant to protect voters was instead excluding them.
“You cannot defeat the Trinamool Congress by deleting names. We will move court again to resist the exclusion,” she said, reiterating her allegation of a coordinated effort between the BJP and the Election Commission.
She added that her party would pursue legal steps to restore names to the electoral rolls in line with constitutional provisions. “If people cannot cast their votes, what was the need for tribunals? And then you say the list has been frozen, what does that mean? We will challenge this again,” she said. While expressing respect for the Supreme Court, Banerjee said she was dissatisfied with the decision to freeze the rolls. “There are times I feel like returning to legal practice, but I cannot because I am in the chief minister’s chair,” she added.
Banerjee alleged that the removal of voters was part of a larger political agenda linked to the Sangh Parivar. Speaking at Balagarh, she accused the Election Commission of intimidating voters through phone calls. “It works under BJP’s instructions. People are being called and threatened,” she claimed.
Using strong imagery, she described the SIR process as a “venomous serpent” harming the state’s democratic fabric. “In the name of SIR, many lives have been disrupted. Bengal has been specifically targeted. Under the guise of deleting votes, there is an attempt to implement the NRC. We will not allow these plans to succeed,” she said.
Banerjee also raised concerns over what she termed a potential threat to the state’s territorial integrity. “There is a conspiracy to divide Bengal again. In the name of delimitation, there are plans to carve out another state,” she alleged.
A senior Trinamool leader said such concerns were not unfounded, pointing to past demands within BJP circles after the party’s 2021 defeat, including proposals to split the state by separating regions like north Bengal and Jungle Mahal.
At a rally in Sreerampore, Banerjee sharpened her attack, questioning how voter lists for the first phase of elections could be frozen despite provisions for appeals. “With due respect, I ask: when the Supreme Court allowed wrongly deleted voters to appeal, why was the list frozen? Those responsible will not be forgiven. The BJP and Amit Shah have deleted names and are spreading fear,” she said.
