West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appeared before the Supreme Court of India on Wednesday to challenge the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, alleging large-scale and unjustified deletion of voter names.
"I am from a common family, and I am not fighting for my party”, Banerjee stated before the apex court, stressing that her petition was aimed at protecting the voting rights of ordinary citizens rather than serving any political interest.
'The Election Commission.. sorry, the WhatsApp Commission'
Banerjee, during the hearing, strongly criticised the Election Commission of India, terming it the “WhatsApp Commission.” She said that the SIR process resulted in large-scale deletion of voters from the electoral rolls and that West Bengal was being targeted.
“The Election Commission… sorry, the WhatsApp Commission… is doing all this. People's names are being deleted. Bengal is being targeted,” she argued. The Chief Minister questioned why similar scrutiny was not being carried out in other states, including Assam and parts of the northeastern region.
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Why only Bengal? questions CM
Banerjee said that by focusing on West Bengal, there were serious doubts about the intentions of the exercise, especially given that elections were imminent. She said, “'Why not Assam, Why not North East?' They only targeted us on the eve of elections.” According to her, the revision process compromised fairness and equality for voters across the country.
Married women’s names being deleted
Highlighting specific issues, Banerjee argued that the SIR process was more of a deletion exercise than a verification process. She said that normal life changes were being identified as “mismatches” or “logical discrepancies.”
She cited cases where women who changed their surname to that of their husband after marriage or moved to their in-laws’ residence were marked as discrepancies. Also, migrant workers who moved for employment were reportedly notified, with some even having their names struck off the electoral rolls.
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Timing and unanswered letters
Banerjee asked why a process that could have extended over two years was compressed into four months. She also pointed out that the notices were sent out during peak agricultural seasons and festival seasons when people were away from their registered areas. The Chief Minister stated before the court that she had written six letters to the Election Commission but had not received any response.
The Supreme Court noted that notices had been sent to all parties, and the matter will be heard next on Monday.
