West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi on Monday to discuss the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state’s electoral roll ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, with TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee and some SIR-affected families, at the Election Commission office in New Delhi. (via TMC PTI)This was claimed in a PTI report citing EC officials Trinamool Congress (TMC) The leader “hummed and walked out of the meeting” without hearing the top brass of the electoral body react to the issues she raised.
After leaving the main office of the Election Commission while talking to the journalists West Bengal The CM launched a fresh slant against the poll panel, accusing it of acting as BJPIts “broker” (intermediary).
“So many people died, who is responsible? The EC is responsible. They are acting on the orders of BJP. They have treated us very badly. I said I am sorry we came here for justice; we did not get it, and you are lying. He is a great liar…,” he said.
“We said we will fight on the ground. You have the power of the BJP; we have the power of the people. We boycotted the assembly. They insulted us, humiliated us… I have never seen such an election commission; they are very arrogant… He speaks with the attitude that he is the master and we are the servants,” he alleged.
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How was the Mamata Banerjee-EC meeting?Mamata Banerjee The TMC, in a statement, met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and fellow ECs wearing a black shawl as a “mark of protest”. The West Bengal chief minister was also present along with his party leaders and some “SIR-affected” families, the statement added.
EC officials said that TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee addressed the meeting first, followed by Mamata Banerjee, adding that the points raised by them were duly noted by CEC Kumar and Election Commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
“When the CEC started to respond, TMC leaders interrupted several times. He left the meeting agitated,” an official was quoted as saying by PTI.
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The CEC explained that “the rule of law will prevail” and anyone who takes the law into their own hands will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the provisions of the law and the powers vested in the commission, the EC statement said.
CEC Kumar told the TMC leadership that his MLAs were openly using abusive and threatening language against the commission, especially the CEC.
There have been incidents of vandalism of electoral registration officers by TMC workers and MLAs, Kumar told TMC leaders.
“There should be no pressure, obstruction or interference by anyone on the officers engaged in SIR work. The honorarium payable to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) should be released in a timely manner without further delay, the CEC told the delegation,” an official said.
EC demand to West Bengal GovtThe Election Commission’s statement made some demands to the West Bengal government. The commission said it sought a proposal for further recruitment on January 20 as per the criteria.
“Presently, in only 67 assembly constituencies, ROs are of the rank of SDO/SDM,” the apex election body said.
Regarding the transfer of EROs, the commission said, “The West Bengal government has transferred three electoral roll observers without consulting the ECI. The ECI has requested cancellation of the transfer order on 27.01.2026. But no action has been reported so far.”
The EC also alleged that the state government had not registered an FIR against four officials (two EROs and two AROs) and a data entry operator for “failure to discharge their statutory duties and violation of data protection policy by sharing login credentials with unauthorized persons”.
