Mamata, Abhishek to hit the streets on Nov 4 against Special Intensive Revision

Kolkata: Amid mounting confusion, fear and anger over the BJP-led Centre’s handling of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Bengal, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee are set to hit Kolkata’s streets on November 4, leading a massive protest rally against SIR— what the party describes as a “sinister attempt to rob people of their voting rights.”

The rally will coincide with the launch of the door-to-door enumeration for the SIR, which will be conducted across Bengal from November 4 to December 4 as part of a month-long voter verification exercise.

The protest rally will start from Red Road and end at Jorasanko Thakurbari, sources said. Trinamool Congress top brass already made it clear that they would not let any legitimate voters’ names be struck off from the electoral rolls. The protest rally is being considered as an attempt to keep the pressure on the Election Commision (EC). The poll body has been carrying out SIR in 12 states, including Bengal.

Mamata and Abhishek will march from the B R Ambedkar statue at Red Road to Jorasanko Thakurbari—the residence of Rabindranath Tagore—at around 2 pm.

TMC sources said that all party workers have been instructed to gather at Red Road by 1.30 pm on November 4. On the same day, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari will lead a rally in Agarpara in the North 24-Parganas district.

In a post on X, the ruling Trinamool Congress on Saturday announced: “Gear up for a MAHA-MICHHIL! Our Hon’ble Chairperson Smt @MamataOfficial and our Hon’ble National General Secretary Shri @abhishekaitc will hit the streets on 4th November 2025, FIGHTING once again for the RIGHTS OF PEOPLE.

One of the main purposes behind organising a maga rally by the ruling party is to ensure that the names of legitimate voters are not deleted in the name of the implementation of SIR. Addressing the state secretariat earlier last month, Chief Minister Banerjee had alleged that the SIR was a ploy to implement the NRC through the back door.

Trinamool Congress leadership also drew a parallel between SIR and National Register of Citizens (NRC) and highlighted a few suicides, claiming that the people who took the extreme step were traumatised by NRC/SIR.

“The so-called Special Intensive Revision is actually SILENT INVISIBLE RIGGING. We will leave NO STONE UNTURNED to ensure that ALL ELIGIBLE VOTERS are included and not left behind in this process. For our people, we will give our all!” Trinamool Congress wrote on X.

Abhishek Banerjee, during a virtual meeting with party functionaries on Friday, unveiled an aggressive action plan to counter the crisis, including announcing the setting up of area-wise help desks across the state from November 4 to December 4 to assist citizens caught in the tangle of voter verification.

Banerjee has also directed his party leaders to open 294 war rooms to be supervised by MLAs. In areas where there are no TMC MLAs, the party’s block presidents will manage the war rooms. Adequate laptops, Internet connections will be available in war rooms. About 4 to 5 party workers will be present in each war room.

Among a gamut of directives for the party’s grassroots machinery, Banerjee issued vivid instructions to booth-level agents, urging TMC workers to maintain a “constant watch” on BLOs throughout the revision drive, insisting that workers remain their (BLOs) “shadow” until the SIR process concludes.