Mamata Banerjee To Go On ‘Dharna’ On March 6 Against EC & ‘Disputed’ SIR

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will stage a sit-in protest, or dharna, in Kolkata on March 6, 2026, to oppose what her party describes as irregularities in the Election Commission of India's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state's electoral rolls. The announcement came on Sunday from TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee during a press conference, following the recent publication of the SIR final voter list. Abhishek Banerjee accused the Election Commission of a deliberate effort to disenfranchise millions of voters in West Bengal through arbitrary deletions and questionable processes.

The SIR exercise, aimed at updating and purifying the electoral rolls ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, has been highly contentious in the state. Reports indicate that approximately 58 lakh names were removed from the draft rolls earlier, with additional deletions - around 5.5 lakh via Form 7 objections - bringing the total exclusions to roughly 63-64 lakh voters. Another 60 lakh electors reportedly remain under adjudication, pending further verification. Only about 1.8-1.9 lakh new names were reportedly added in the recent updates, resulting in a net reduction in the voter base.

TMC leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, have alleged that these changes reflect a pre-determined target - around 1.2 crore deletions - set even before the SIR began, purportedly to benefit the BJP by influencing electoral outcomes. They claim the process disproportionately affects certain communities and districts, and have described it as a conspiracy to suppress voter turnout in Bengal. “Election Commission is working in cahoots with the BJP to delete people. The BJP leaders had previously said that 1.2 crore voters will be deleted. And it isn’t a coincidence that as numbers stand today, it’s around that same figure”, said Banerjee while alleging that delay in SIR completion is being done purposely so that BJP can create a constitutional crisis in West Bengal where government formation has to be competed by May, 19.

The dharna is scheduled to take place at Metro Channel in Esplanade, Kolkata, starting at 2:00 PM - a symbolically significant location where Mamata Banerjee previously held a prolonged hunger strike in 2006 during her anti-land acquisition protests. From the protest site, she is expected to outline further steps in the agitation against the SIR process. “No other chief minister has done what she has done. She went to Supreme Court and fought the battle herself for the people of Bengal. And now she has decided to go on dharna, again to save the democratic rights of the people”, said Banerjee.

The TMC has already pursued legal avenues, with the matter listed for hearing in the Supreme Court on March 10. Abhishek Banerjee indicated plans to approach the apex court again, citing alleged intimidation of judicial officers involved in the verification process. In response to the TMC's criticisms, Union Minister Giriraj Singh has countered that the protest appears aimed at protecting ineligible inclusions, including alleged Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants, in the voter lists.

The ongoing dispute highlights deep political tensions in West Bengal as the state prepares for assembly polls, with both sides accusing the other of attempting to manipulate the electoral framework. The Election Commission has maintained that the SIR is a necessary step to ensure accurate and error-free rolls, though it has acknowledged that mistakes can occur in large-scale exercises and promised action against any intentional wrongdoing by officials.​