West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made an emotional submission before the Supreme Court on Wednesday while arguing against alleged voter deletions under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, invoking Rabindranath Tagore to underline her sense of injustice.
“May I be permitted to explain, as I belong to that State. I am grateful for the court’s kindness and offer my respectful regards to the Hon’ble Judges and the lawyers. Our counsel have argued the matter from the very beginning, but when justice is not forthcoming, it feels—as Rabindranath Tagore wrote—that justice is left standing outside the door,” she said with folded hands.
Seeking permission to speak as someone “from the State concerned,” Banerjee thanked the court for its indulgence and said that despite lawyers arguing the case from the outset, justice had remained elusive. She added that she had written six detailed letters to the Chief Election Commissioner without receiving any response, and described herself as a humble worker from an ordinary family fighting for her party.
I have written six detailed letters to the Chief Election Commissioner but have received no response. I consider myself a humble worker, from an ordinary family, fighting only for my party,” she said with folded hands.
Banerjee went on to escalate her critique against ECI calling the verification mandates under SIR process “anti-women,” adding that the apex poll body is not allowing the domicile certificates.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted in Bengal is for ‘deletion’ of voters and does not adhere to the promise of ‘inclusion’ of eligible electors, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee submitted before the Supreme Court bench.
“The SIR process is being carried out for the deletion and not inclusion of voters,” Banerjee said.
While appearing before a 3-person SC bench, comprising of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi, CM Banerjee also upped her criticism against the hasty implementation of the SIR exercise by Election Commission of India (ECI) questioning the need for such “hurry.” She asked, “What was the hurry? Why are they doing something in three months, which takes two years to do? So many people have died in Bengal, more than 100,” the Trinamool Congress Supremo added.
CM Banerjee also questioned the intension of the rigorous SIR process in Bengal, which shares borders with Bangladesh, while the same was not applicable for Assam, a neighbouring state of Bengal, which also shares border with Bangladesh. “Why not Assam, why not them, why not Assam?” she asked repeatedly. Notably, instead of Special Intensive Revision, a Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls has been undertaken by the EC in Assam. The ongoing exercise is being done looking the Assembly polls in the north eastern state slated for 2027.
The top TMC leader’s statements came after Senior Advocate Shyam Divan made the opening submissions, who presented mathematical detail of the SIR process being carried out in Bengal. He pointed out the statistical “impossibility” of the SIR exercise by emphasizing that about 63lakh voters are still due for hearing under ‘logical discrepancy’ category despite over 1lakh hearings being conducted in a day. “The procedure is unrealistic and unfair,” Divan argued.
Following this, CM sought permission from the bench to present her stance. She had earlier made an interlocutory application before the apex court seeking nod to argue for petition challenging the EC over SIR. Seeking permission to speak before the bench, CM also quoted Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore after CJI Kant interjected her saying there are learned counsels who have well-explained the matter before the court.
