Alleging harassment of the electorate in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the State, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (January 5, 2026) said she would move the court against the Election Commission of India (EC).
“We are also seeking legal help. The court will open tomorrow [Tuesday]. We will also go to court. So many people have, the way so many people are being harassed,” the Chief Minister said during a public meeting at Sagar Island. She herself wanted to bring what people were facing at the ground level to the notice of the court, she said.
“If necessary, I will also go to the Supreme Court and plead for the people. I will speak for the people. I am a lawyer. But I will not go [to court] as a lawyer. I can ask permission to speak as a common citizen. I will take permission to speak. I will show what is happening at the grassroot level, how people are being harassed,” Ms. Banerjee said.
The Trinamool Congress chairperson’s remarks have come after she wrote three letters to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar between November 2025 to January 2026, stating that the SIR in the State was fraught with irregularities and should be halted.
During the public meeting, the Chief Minister targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership. “How would BJP leaders feel if someone made their old parents stand in line to prove their identity? Since the SIR began, so many people have died due to fear, and several others are in hospital,” Ms. Banerjee alleged.
Responding to her remarks, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said that the SIR started with the exercise in Bihar in June 2025, and not only leaders from Opposition parties in Bihar but also Trinamool leader Mahua Moitra had approached the Supreme Court on the issue.
“The Supreme Court did not pay heed to what you (Ms. Banerjee) had to say. You can keep calling the Election Commission as an agent of the BJP. Instead of making such comments, the Chief Minister should go to the Supreme Court directly,” Mr. Adhikari said.
The BJP leader on Monday wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, refuting the allegations made by Ms. Banerjee in her January 3 letter to Mr. Kumar.
While 58 lakh names were deleted from electoral rolls after the first phase of the SIR, about 1.26 voters were identified with ‘logical discrepancies’ at the start of the SIR hearings on December 27. The number of ‘logical discrepancies’ in West Bengal now stands at about 94.49 lakh.
