Bengal SIR Row: The Election Commission of India's ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal became a flashpoint between the ruling Trinamool Party (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On Thursday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a strongly worded letter to CEC Gyanesh Kumar, asking him to immediately halt the exercise that she claimed was "chaotic, coercive and dangerous".
Reacting to her letter, the BJP alleged that Banerjee was complaining against the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls and resorting to dramatics over it because her political survival depends on "shielding" a voter base created "fraudulently".
BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari termed the letter to the poll body "signs of desperation" and accused her of trying to halt the voter roll cleanup exercise to shield the "very ecosystem that kept it in power".
"Mamata Banerjee writing a letter to the Election Commission on halting the SIR exercise is nothing short of an admission that the TMC's top leadership is rattled. For years, TMC quietly benefited from illegal infiltration and bogus voters," Bhandari attacked the chief minister in an X post.
BJP co-incharge for West Bengal Amit Malviya claimed that Banerjee will continue to complain and dramatise the SIR process because she knows "the noose is tightening" and she risks being defeated in the 2026 assembly polls.
He claimed, "In 2026, West Bengal will elect a chief minister for the state, not someone who behaves as though she is the provincial leader of East Pakistan."
What Mamata Said In Her Letter To CEC
On the other hand, Banerjee asserted in her letter that she has "time and again" raised concerns over the ongoing SIR of the electoral rolls in the state and is now "compelled to write" to the chief election commissioner because the situation has reached a "deeply alarming stage".
She alleged that the SIR in Bengal is being carried out in an 'unplanned, dangerous' manner that has crippled the process from day one. The chief minister accused the Election Commission of thrusting the SIR upon officials and citizens "without basic preparedness, adequate planning or clear communication", claiming that critical gaps in training, confusion over mandatory documents and the "near-impossibility" of BLOs meeting voters during working hours had rendered the entire exercise 'structurally unsound'.
She urged the CEC to intervene decisively to halt the ongoing exercise, stop "coercive" measures, provide proper training and support, and thoroughly reassess the present methodology and timelines.
(With PTI inputs)