Mamata Banerjee to Move Court Against Electoral Roll Revision, Calls SIR ‘Inhumane’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday launched a fierce legal and political counteroffensive. She opposed the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. She called it a process that has crossed the line from administration into cruelty.

Speaking before a large gathering in South 24 Parganas, Banerjee accused the revision exercise of spreading fear among ordinary citizens. It is pushing the most vulnerable into distress. “This is not verification, this is victimisation,” she said, announcing that her government would approach the court immediately. If required, she added, she would even knock on the doors of the Supreme Court of India—not as Chief Minister, but “as a common citizen.”

At the heart of her criticism was the treatment of elderly and terminally ill voters. According to Banerjee, people battling age and illness were forced to wait for hours in queues. They clutched documents to prove that they belonged to the democracy they had voted in for decades. “If this happened to your parents, would you stay silent?” she asked, directly addressing the opposition.

The SIR process was launched by the Election Commission of India on December 16, 2025. It has already resulted in the deletion of nearly 58 lakh names from the draft electoral rolls. This action was taken ahead of the February 14 publication deadline. Officials say most deletions stem from unreturned verification forms, deaths, migration, duplication, or prolonged absence. Banerjee, however, alleged that the human cost was being ignored, claiming that 81 people had died in the past two months, overwhelmed by stress and administrative pressure linked to the exercise.

The Bharatiya Janata Party dismissed her charges as politically motivated. Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari argued that SIR was a constitutional duty aimed at protecting genuine voters. He pointed out that legal remedies remained open for anyone wrongly excluded and cited earlier Supreme Court observations affirming the Election Commission’s authority.

Banerjee, however, widened the debate beyond voter lists. She accused the BJP of targeting Bengali-speaking migrant workers across India, warning that language itself was being criminalised. “You insult our identity and then speak of nationalism,” she said, accusing the party of offering promises before elections and repression afterward.

As legal battles loom, the controversy has sparked a deeper question. Can electoral purity be pursued without sacrificing human dignity? Also, does democracy remember its people while counting its voters?