Kolkata, Jan 6 (UNI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday intensified her attack on the Election Commission over the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls, accusing both the poll panel and the BJP of carrying out the exercise in an “illegal, unconstitutional, and undemocratic” manner.
Speaking to reporters on her return from Gangasagar, she alleged that the SIR process was being conducted in a “wrong and arbitrary” way.
“The Commission is doing everything wrong. Living people are being shown as dead, elderly people are being dragged to hearings with oxygen pipes. They whole process is a farce,” she said.
Taking a dig at the BJP, the chief minister said, “Some apps have been developed with the help of the BJP IT cell. This is completely illegal, unconstitutional, and undemocratic. This cannot continue.”
The chief minister said she had already written for the third time to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, raising a series of complaints about irregularities in the SIR.
She accused the BJP of influencing the exercise and alleged that people’s voting rights were being taken away under the guise of an administrative revision.
Her remarks on Tuesday followed a sharp escalation of her criticism on Monday from Gangasagar, where she announced that the ruling Trinamool Congress would take legal recourse against the SIR.
Banerjee alleged that the process was being carried out without adequate preparation, leading to widespread harassment of ordinary citizens.
“We are taking the help of the law. The court will open tomorrow, and we will move court. If required, I will also seek permission to approach the Supreme Court and plead on behalf of the people,” Banerjee said on Monday, noting that she is a trained lawyer.
She further alleged that the SIR had created fear among voters and claimed that several people had died due to panic linked to the process.
According to her, deaths had even occurred while people were standing in queues for SIR-related hearings.
Banerjee accused the Election Commission and the BJP of subjecting elderly and ailing citizens to undue hardship in the name of verification.
The chief minister also alleged large-scale arbitrary deletion of names from the voter rolls, claiming that around 5.4 million names had been removed despite voters having the right to submit Forms 7 and 8.
She accused the authorities of relying on artificial intelligence and WhatsApp-based mechanisms to delete names, calling it a serious threat to democratic rights.
Targeting both the Election Commission and the BJP, Banerjee warned that the SIR was being used as a political tool to disenfranchise voters.
She reiterated that she would pursue the matter legally as a citizen, not as a lawyer, and, if necessary, would personally approach the Supreme Court after seeking permission to place before it the ground-level realities of alleged harassment and irregularities linked to the SIR process.
