Mamata Set for a Legal Battle against EC, files Writ Petition in SC

New Delhi: The SIR battle between West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and the EC has intensified as the matter has now moved to the Supreme Court. Mamata officially filed a petition on January 28, challenging the EC over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

The long-run tension related to SIR that Mamata claims is aprocedural violation. The dispute followed after the mass deletion of voters’ names from the SIR draft rolls in West Bengal. The Election Commission had flagged around 1.5 crore voters, and around 58 lakh names were deleted from the rolls over discrepancies. However, Banerjee alleges that this is a “politicized move” aimed at nullifying voters ahead of the 2026 Bengal Assembly polls.

On Sunday, February 1, Mamata arrived in New Delhi to meet Gyanesh Kumar, the Chief Election Commissioner. She will lead a 15-member delegation today, raising the SIR-related tension and deaths in the state. In her most recent letter to CEC, she questioned the appointment of 8100 micro-observers and claimed they were sent to Bengal to manipulate voter data.

However, the move has triggered a sharp political reaction, wherein Union Minister Amit Shah accused the TMC of being scared of a “clean” voter list. He stated that SIR is necessary to remove infiltrators in Bengal.

The petition is likely to be heard in the Supreme Court on Wednesday. This also includes other petitions filed by TMC MP’S Mahua Moitra and Derek O’Brien