KOLKATA: Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday wrote a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar urging him to continue the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state. This follows West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's allegation that the Election Commission of India (ECI) lacks “sensitivity and understanding of ground realities”.
The LoP in the state Legislative Assembly in his letter to the CEC has termed the CM’s allegations related to the SIR exercise as ‘baseless, blown out of proportion and exaggerated’.
"Her letter appears to be a desperate and politically motivated attempt to derail the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, which is crucial step towards ensuring free, fair transparent elections in our state," he wrote.
He added that the process had "evidently exposed vulnerabilities in the electoral rolls that threaten the prospects of her Trinamool Congress party, prompting such unfounded outbursts."
Suvendhu claimed that the SIR seeks to "cleanse the voter lists of discrepancies, duplicates, and ineligible entries, issues that have long plagued West Bengal’s electoral integrity."
He called the CM's portrayal of this exercise "as ‘unplanned, insensitive, and inhuman’ is nothing short of a gross exaggeration, blown out of proportion to create public hysteria and shift focus from her Government’s failures."
He further added that Mamata's claims of "harassment, intimidation, and disproportionate workload on ordinary citizens are unsubstantiated and seem designed to politicise a routine constitutional process."
Suvendhu also said that the CM’s claims of 77 deaths, four suicide attempts, and 17 hospitalisations because of the SIR process ‘appear to be fabricated or opportunistically linked to unrelated incidents’ that she used to claim during the COVID-19 when she linked every death with the pandemic.
Regarding the issue of ECI notices served to the Nobel laureate Prof Amartya Sen and other celebrities in Bengal Suvendu stated in his letter to the CEC saying, “In a democracy, like ours, every Citizen is equal before the law and electoral process. When lakhs of ordinary citizens across West Bengal are receiving notices for procedural verifications, often due to logical discrepancies like minor spelling verifications or age mismatches, it is only fair and just that well-known individuals are not granted exemptions.”
Suvendu on X posted a letter issued by the ECI to the West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Sunday and stated that the Commission has conveyed its no objection to accepting tea garden and cinchona plantation records as documents for SIR 2026 in the districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur and Dakshin Dinajpur.
Mamata had written her fourth letter to the CEC on Saturday slamming the national poll body for asking Prof Sen to appear before poll officials to establish his credentials as a part of the ongoing SIR was a matter of ‘profound shame.’
“It is a matter of profound shame that Nobel laureate Prof Amartya Sen – a nonagenarian and a globally respected intellectual – has been asked to appear before ECI officials to establish credentials,” the CM had stated in her letter to Kumar.
The LoP has criticised her observation and stated, “To single out these cases as ‘profound shame’ is selective narrative that ignores the broader context of maintain electoral purity for all.”
He urged Kumar to complete the SIR process expeditiously ‘ensuring that West Bengal’s electorate reflects only eligible citizens.’
In her letter, Mamata accused the ECI of lacking ‘sensitivity and understanding ground realities’ in the wake of the ongoing SIR in the state.
Expressing deep concern over the difficulties faced by migrant workers from Bengal and people currently residing outside the state, Mamata stated, according to letter, “ECI has woken up so late in the day to allow only select electors tp appear through their authorised family members for the hearing. The same courtesy has not been extended to migrant workers. This is a reflection of lack of sensitivity and understanding about the ground realities.”