Mamata Banerjee accuses EC of ignoring complaints, seeks Court's permission to speak

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee requested permission from the Supreme Court to personally address the bench during the hearing of her plea challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Banerjee reportedly told the court that she should be given at least five minutes to present her concerns regarding the alleged discrepancies in the voter verification process.

During the proceedings, Banerjee emphasised that her intervention was necessary to highlight issues affecting voters in West Bengal. The Chief Minister has been raising concerns that several eligible voters could be wrongfully excluded due to technical and administrative discrepancies identified during the SIR process.

West Bengal Chief Minister sought permission from the Supreme Court to speak for five minutes, alleging that Bengal is being targeted and claiming that the Election Commission is ignoring complaints and not delivering justice. She told the court she wanted to present photos from various newspapers and alleged a “game of mismatch and mismapping,” stating that names of married women who moved to in-laws’ homes and people who shifted addresses have been removed from records, while questioning how the process would work if Aadhaar is not accepted. Banerjee also claimed that around 100 people have been killed and people are living in fear, and directly questioned why SIR is being conducted in Bengal but not in Assam. Meanwhile, Shyam Diwan argued that people have already faced significant trouble and the date should not be extended.

The court, which is currently examining the validity and implementation of the SIR exercise, has been hearing arguments from multiple sides, including the Election Commission and state representatives. The hearing comes amid an ongoing political tussle between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party over the voter revision process.

Mamata Banerjee told the Supreme Court that her government is ready to provide all possible assistance to the Election Commission but alleged that it is acting arbitrarily, claiming that 58 lakh names were deleted in the first phase and up to 1 crore 33 lakh names in the second phase. She urged that names should not be deleted in the name of logical discrepancy and made an appeal to the court, stating that her only request is to save democracy.

The SIR exercise has sparked significant political debate in West Bengal, with the TMC alleging that genuine voters may face disenfranchisement, while the BJP has maintained that the revision is a routine and necessary electoral procedure to ensure transparency and accuracy in voter rolls. The matter remains under judicial scrutiny.