Mamata Banerjee Begins Indefinite Dharna at Kolkata’s Esplanade Over Alleged Deletion of Millions of Voters from Electoral Rolls

On Friday, February 06 2026, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee introduced an indefinite sit-in protest (dharna) in Metro Channel at Esplanade, Kolkata, claiming that millions of names were being removed illegally off the electoral rolls in the state before the next Assembly elections. The demonstration started at approximately 2:15 PM in central Kolkata, and it is likely to last without any clear-cut time termination. Banerjee indicated that she is ready to spend the night on the protest until the purported anomalies in the voter list are resolved by the authorities. The Chief Minister is protesting against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll by the election commission of India. Banerjee estimates that between 6.3 and 6.4 million names of voters have been removed and almost 6 million more are now under what he calls adjudication, so their eligibility to vote in the April Assembly elections is unclear. In the protest, Banerjee used the symbolic protest to demonstrate by taking 22 people on stage, who are officially declared to be dead in the revised voter lists, yet they are alive. According to the Chief Minister, the incident demonstrates some severe weaknesses in the electoral revision process. In a move to respond to the followers, Banerjee said that the Election Commission of India was a tool of an unashamed BJP. She claimed that revision of the voter roll is one of the conspiracies by the Bharatiya Janata Party to disenfranchise the Bengali voter especially the minority groups and Matuas. The sit-in is being held at Metro Channel in Esplanade which is a historic protest venue in Kolkata which has been the location of several political protests over the years. The surrounding area has been tightened down with the supporters of the ruling party flocking at the venue. Election Commission is yet to give an official reaction to the claims by Chief Minister.