TMC delegation meets full bench of EC amid row over ongoing SIR in West Bengal

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, a 10-member Trinamool Congress delegation led by Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien met the full bench of the Election Commission here on Friday. The delegation included TMC Lok Sabha MPs Satabdi Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Pratima Mondal, Sajda Ahmed, and Mahua Moitra, and Rajya Sabha MPs Dola Sen, Mamata Thakur, Saket Gokhale, and Prakash Chik Barik. The meeting comes against the backdrop of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, seeking his "immediate intervention" on two recent concerns. Banerjee referred to the state CEO's direction to district election officers not to engage contractual data-entry operators and Bangla Sahayata Kendra staff for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), voters' list cleanup exercise, or other poll-related work, and a proposal to set up polling booths inside private residential complexes. It also follows the TMC allegation that several deaths linked to the SIR verification process have been reported in the state. The SIR is currently underway in 12 states and Union territories, including West Bengal.