KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that the fall of the BJP-led government at the Centre would be inevitable if even a single eligible voter was omitted from the electoral rolls.
She accused the saffron party and the Election Commission (EC) of allegedly using the Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls (SIR) as a political tool to intimidate voters ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.
Leading a massive anti-SIR rally in Kolkata, CM Mamata charged that the Election Commission was selectively conducting the revision drive in opposition-ruled states while sparing BJP-ruled ones.
"The EC is conducting SIR in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, but not in BJP-ruled Assam," the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief alleged.
Assembly elections are due next year in these four states.
"The Election Commission must also reply why there is no SIR in BJP-ruled Assam, Tripura and other northeastern states," she demanded, calling it "clear discrimination aimed at helping the ruling party at the Centre."
The last SIR in West Bengal in 2002 had taken at least two years to be completed, she said, wondering why the EC was "in a hurry" to finish it this time in just a month.
CM Mamata branded the current exercise as "hurried and politically motivated."
"If a single eligible voter is removed from the electoral rolls, we will ensure the fall of this BJP government," CM Mamata declared to thunderous applause from her supporters.
Challenging the BJP’s repeated claims of “illegal voters” in West Bengal, CM Mamata asked, "How many Rohingyas or Bangladeshis were found in Bihar after the SIR there?"
She asserted that merely speaking in Bengali does not make someone a Bangladeshi and accused the saffron party of spreading fake news and communal propaganda to malign Bengalis.
Taking a swipe at the ruling party, the TMC supremo said, "The BJP does not want to win on the basis of votes, but on the strength of notes.
If this electoral roll is fake, then how did the BJP win previous elections held on the basis of the same list?"
CM Mamata alleged that SIR stands for "silent, invisible rigging" and that the BJP is using it to instil fear among voters.
"Do we have to prove our citizenship before the BJP after being born and brought up in this land?" she asked, evoking strong support from the crowd.
CM Mamata, who was accompanied by her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee during the protest march, said the TMC would take the fight to Delhi if needed.
