West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), holding the poll body responsible for what she termed as “SIR deaths” in the state, following the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Addressing a meeting of Trinamool Congress booth-level agents at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, Banerjee alleged that the revision exercise has thrown up massive discrepancies, harassment of voters, and administrative chaos. The Chief Minister claimed that 58 lakh names have already been deleted from the draft electoral roll, and accused the ECI of acting as a “broker” for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the high-stakes 2026 Assembly elections in Bengal.
She went on to hold the Commission directly accountable for the deaths of 46 people, including four Booth Level Officers (BLOs), since the commencement of the SIR exercise - deaths she described as being caused by pressure, stress, and harassment linked to the revision process.
“There has been several names deleted so far from the draft for reasons which defy logic. If a woman got married and moved to a new address, instead of updating the address they have deleted her name. In Kolkata several wards have been added since the last delimitation exercise - which has led to discrepancy in addresses and they have deleted names. People have been deleted owing to spelling mismatch. They have deliberately deleted names to help BJP”, Mamata Banerjee said and further added, “people have committed suicide due to such harassment and its ECI that is solely responsible for the deaths of 46 people”.
The Chief Minister also alleged procedural violations by the Commission, accusing it of appointing observers without informing the State Government and functioning in a partisan manner. “The Election Commission is working only as per the directions of the BJP. There are gross errors in the mapping of voters”, she said.
In a pointed attack on the Chief Election Commissioner, Banerjee referred to him as “Vanish Kumar” - without naming him directly - suggesting that voters’ names were being deliberately made to “vanish” from the rolls. She claimed the deletions were part of a design to intimidate voters in Bengal.
Defending Booth Level Officers, Banerjee said the ground-level staff were being unfairly blamed for errors originating from frequent and confusing changes in the digital systems. “The BLOs are not responsible for these errors, they have been trying to cope with multiple changes in the app. There are so many updates on almost everyday basis. Then there’s artificial intelligence used as a trick to create confusion and replace real voters”, she said.
She further alleged that central officers appointed as micro-observers for SIR hearings lack familiarity with local languages and ground realities, making them unfit to conduct verifications during the second phase of the revision exercise.
The Trinamool Congress has consistently maintained that the SIR process in Bengal is being weaponised politically, a charge the Election Commission has denied in the past.
