Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday intensified his attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of planting “selective leaks” and demanding that the poll panel release the entire CCTV footage and all evidence linked to West Bengal’s ongoing SIR exercise.
Banerjee, in a series of strong remarks on X, alleged that the Commission was “hiding behind motivated leaks” while claiming to have countered the TMC’s allegations. He said that if the EC “truly believes in transparency”, it must make public all materials it claims to possess instead of sharing “curated information”.
“The Election Commission is deliberately planting selective leaks…These assertions are not just misleading, they are OUTRIGHT LIES,” he wrote, insisting that the poll body release “every piece of evidence” connected to the SIR process. “Anything less only exposes their bad faith,” he added.
Banerjee said the TMC had already submitted five basic questions to the Commission and that it could “take as many days as it wants” to respond, asserting that the party had “enough digital evidence” to show how the EC’s version was being “distorted through planted, fabricated leaks”.
Warning the poll body, he posted: “So THINK TWICE before you choose to pick a fight with West Bengal and @AITCofficial.”
Without naming Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, he added: “I understand your frustration, Mr SIR, but facts do not bend to convenience. If energy is available for planting stories, surely it can be redirected to answering the five simple questions. Your Time starts NOW!”
TMC leaders have been alleging widespread distress among Booth Level Officers and field staff during the SIR exercise, claiming that several deaths reported in recent weeks were linked to excessive workload, continuous verification drives and “inhuman deadlines”. The party has described the exercise as an “administrative punishment regime” imposed on the state.
Banerjee also questioned why West Bengal alone was subjected to what he called an intrusive verification drive, while other states bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar were spared any similar exercise. Earlier this month, he had asked how electoral rolls that were “good enough to elect the country’s Lok Sabha just last year” had suddenly become questionable. If the rolls were unreliable, he asked, “why not dissolve the Lok Sabha elected by these unreliable voters?”
With the SIR process triggering unrest among staff and fuelling a political storm, the confrontation between the TMC and the Election Commission has escalated sharply, marking a new flashpoint ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.