Mamata Banerjee moves Supreme Court for holding polls in WB as per existing electoral rolls instead of SIR

New Delhi: Citing an imminent and irreversible risk of large-scale disenfranchisement of eligible voters ahead of the forthcoming state Assembly elections, Banerjee has sought directions for the polls to be held using the electoral rolls prepared last year. She has also requested that electoral authorities be instructed not to summon voters for hearings in cases involving name mismatches or spelling differences categorised as ‘logical discrepancies’ during the ongoing SIR exercise. According to her plea, such corrections should be made suo motu on the basis of existing records. She has further urged that all identity documents issued by competent authorities be accepted as valid proof.

In her petition, Banerjee has stated that the term of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly is set to end on or around May 7, 2026, and elections are likely to be announced immediately thereafter. She has argued that proceeding in the current manner would amount to a grave injustice, as it would effectively freeze the voters’ list despite widespread errors, omissions and large-scale disenfranchisement caused by what she describes as the opaque, hurried, unconstitutional and illegal actions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), leaving no time for grievance redressal due to severe time constraints. The plea, filed through advocate Kunal Mimani, contends that the ongoing SIR process could disenfranchise lakhs of voters, thereby disturbing the level playing field for political parties in the upcoming elections. Banerjee has argued that the entire SIR exercise is aimed at stripping existing voters of their voting rights by compelling them to establish their citizenship through documentary evidence linked to an arbitrary cut-off year of 2002. She has claimed that this violates constitutional provisions as well as the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951.

She has further alleged that the exercise is being carried out with undue haste, within a span of less than 90 days, just months before the 2026 Assembly elections, and has pointed out several practical difficulties and procedural loopholes in its implementation. Permitting the process to continue, she has warned, would inevitably lead to mass exclusion of voters, particularly among economically vulnerable migrant workers who frequently travel outside the state for seasonal employment. The plea also accuses the ECI of turning the SIR process into a chaotic and adversarial ordeal for voters, marked by arbitrary rejection of documents, irrational hearings, contradictory instructions, opaque rules, shifting positions, and confusion arising from the use of untested algorithms and software. Additionally, Banerjee has alleged that despite clear directions from the Supreme Court in petitions challenging the SIR, instructions continue to be issued to electoral officers through WhatsApp messages. She has also claimed that the list of individuals placed under the ‘logical discrepancy’ category has not been made available online.