Mamata terms SIR a ‘BJP-EC nexus’ to capture Bengal

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Monday mounted a sharp attack on Union Home minister Amit Shah—without naming him—accusing him of running the country in an authoritarian manner, undermining democratic values and even exercising control over the Prime Minister.

Slamming the BJP and the Election Commission of India (EC) over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, Banerjee alleged that a “conspiracy” was being hatched to “capture Bengal”.

Addressing a meeting of her party’s Booth Level Agents (BLAs) at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, Banerjee said: “The Election Commission is working only at the direction of the BJP. There are gross errors in voter mapping during the SIR exercise.”

She claimed that the names of married women whose surnames and addresses changed after marriage were removed from the rolls, while others were excluded due to a spelling mismatch.

“People have committed suicide because of these mistakes. The Election Commission has taken the lives of 46 people. It is not the fault of the BLOs; the responsibility lies with you,” she said, adding that delimitation carried out after 2002 was not considered during the enumeration phase.

Terming the exercise “political persecution”, Banerjee alleged that the BJP had turned SIR into a tool of fear and intimidation.

“On BJP’s instructions, the ECI has converted a routine exercise into a weapon with devastating consequences,” she claimed, adding that attempts were being made to remove the names of 1.5 crore voters from the state’s electoral rolls. “Any such attempt will be resisted politically,” she asserted.

Dubbing the SIR “riddled with blunders from A to Z”, she said conducting such an exercise before a population census was erroneous. Without taking names, she referred to Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar as “Vanish Kumar”, suggesting that voters’ names were being deliberately made to “vanish” from the rolls.

“The BJP government at the Centre will use the ECI to control Bengal and disrespect its people. These are tactics to undermine Bengal and destroy its culture. The 2026 Assembly elections will be a farewell for the BJP,” Banerjee said.

She claimed that the Home minister was “controlling everything”, and even doubted whether the Prime Minister had any control. “Never seen such a bad Home minister in my political life,” she remarked and warned that allowing those who “incite riots” to run the country would push India towards a dangerous direction.

She alleged that observers were being appointed without informing the state. “Voter lists in Kolkata are prepared in English. How will people living in colonies understand English?” she asked, adding that discrepancies were arising due to differences between Bengali and English spellings. She also alleged that micro-observers brought from Delhi did not understand Bengal’s linguistic and social diversity, including languages such as Rajbanshi, Kamtapuri, Lepcha and Nepali, and directed BLAs to collect details about these observers.

Pointing out that most Booth Level Officers in the state are school teachers, Banerjee noted that the Madhyamik examinations were approaching. “Teachers are already under pressure. On top of that, many central government officials have been appointed,” she said.

“What does the ECI think? Do they think they will eliminate us by deleting voters’ names? The people themselves will eliminate you,” she said, adding, “No matter what you do with SIR, Bengal will not be yours. This time we will take Delhi from them.” According to the draft electoral rolls, 58,20,899 names have been excluded, reducing West Bengal’s electorate to 7.08 crore. About 1.36 crore entries have been flagged for “logical discrepancies”, while 30 lakh voters have been categorised as unmapped. “I have never seen such a shameless Commission in the past,” Banerjee said.

Banerjee also reassured the Matua community members, and those belonging to minority communities to not worry about disenfranchisement.

“The BJP is trying to drive a wedge through the Muslims in Bengal and divide the community,” she alleged.

She also accused the Centre of sidelining Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy, alleging selective highlighting of religious symbolism.

During the meeting, some BLAs complained they could not hear her. Banerjee expressed displeasure over the public address system at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, referring to similar problems during a recent business delegation meeting, and warned of action.