The political battle over Special Voter List Revision (SIR) is continuously intensifying in West Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission and the Central Government, alleging that she and Bengal are being ‘targeted’ in the name of SIR. Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar in Nadia district, she said in a warning tone, ‘If an attempt is made to attack me, I will shake the foundation of BJP in the entire country.’
Mamata Banerjee claimed that so far 35-36 people have died in the state due to the SIR process, including many suicides. He appealed to the people not to sacrifice their lives due to fear of SIR under any circumstances and assured that no genuine voter will be removed from the list. He alleged that the Election Commission wants to end the SIR in just two months, whereas in 2002 the process took three years. Mamta described the commission as ‘BJP Commission’ and said that it is working on ‘instructions received from Delhi’.
Matua voters warned against CAA
During the rally in Matua dominated areas, Mamata made a big accusation on BJP that the organizations associated with it are distributing fake certificates in the name of citizenship, in which people are indirectly being declared Bangladeshi. He said that if someone applies under CAA claiming to be a Bangladeshi, he will be immediately removed from the voter list and this is a big fraud. They allege that the real objective of SIR is to scare Matua and Bengali speaking voters. He also raised the question that if the people who voted in 2024 are ‘illegal’, then how is the legitimacy of the central government decided.
BJP’s counter attack on Mamata
BJP strongly countered these allegations of Mamata and said that infiltrators and fake voters are being removed through SIR, that is why Mamata is upset. Party leaders say that Mamata’s government is run with the help of infiltrators and she is giving misleading statements to hide the reality. BJP also said that Mamata’s statement about BJP losing Gujarat out of concern about winning Bengal is only political frustration.
Election Commission found 13.92 lakh forms undeliverable
Here, the Election Commission has revealed that during the SIR, so far 13.92 lakh such forms have been received, which have been considered ‘uncollectible’. These include those voters who are either dead, registered at two places, have gone out of the state permanently or are not found at their homes for a long time. Till Monday this number was 10.33 lakh, which means the figure is increasing rapidly.
More than 80,600 BLOs, 8,000 supervisors, 3,000 AEROs and 294 EROs are deployed in the state for SIR. During this period, three BLOs have also died, for which TMC has accused the Commission of serious negligence and threats. Mamta accused an officer of threatening the BLOs with jail and losing their jobs and said that this officer is going to retire in five months.
TMC delegation will be received from the Election Commission
Amidst the growing controversy over SIR, the Election Commission has given a meeting on November 28 to the 10-member TMC delegation, which will include Derek O’Brien, Mahua Moitra, Kalyan Banerjee and Saket Gokhale. TMC alleges that an attempt is being made to influence the politics of the state by making large-scale changes in the voter list before the 2026 assembly elections, while BJP is calling it a campaign to cleanse the infiltrators and make the voter list transparent.
This conflict over SIR is further heating up the politics of Bengal and this dispute can become a big political issue at the national level in the coming days.
