West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that her state was being targeted using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged that the Election Commission wanted to "bulldoze" its people.
The TMC supremo was present in the first row of the court number 1 along with the team of her lawyers, including senior lawyer Shyam Divan, and sought to argue the case herself.
Mamata is the first sitting CM to appear and argue before the top court.
She started by thanking the three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, for letting her make the submissions.
The CM said that her state has been denied justice everywhere and pointed out that she had written multiple letters to the ECI, raising several issues with the SIR.
"...when everything is finished, when we are not getting justice, when justice is crying behind the door - then we thought, we are not getting justice anywhere. I have written letters to the Election Commission including all details, but no reply. I am a bonded labour. I am a very less important person, I am from a common family, I am not fighting for my party," she said.
Mamata, who argued for about 20 minutes, also alleged that West Bengal was being targeted by the ECI "on the eve of the elections" and that the poll agency has not followed the SC directions regarding SIR in the state.
"They have targeted only Bengal on the eve of elections. Why, after 24 years, what was the hurry to do in two months what will take two years? When the festival season is there, when the harvest season is there, when people are in no mood to be in the city, they are troubling people issuing notices...Bengal is targeted. Sir, tell me,why not Assam? Why not North East?" she asked.
"More than 100 people have died. BLOs have died writing in letters, many are hospitalised. because of the harassment of ECI. Many are hospitalised," she added.
She further raised issues regarding micro-observers appointed by the ECI and claimed that 8000 such officials have been appointed from the BJP to delete names, superseding the powers of the BLOs.
"58 lakh people are deleted. Living people are declared dead. They are targeting Bengal, only for Bengal they have appointed micro-observers. They want to bulldoze the people of Bengal," she said.
Slamming the ECI as "WhatsApp Commission," she alleged that the poll agency was issuing orders through WhatsApp.
Mamata alleged that the SIR process was "only for deletion" and that unplanned errors were used to delete voters. She alleged that the names of women who moved into their in-laws' houses after marriage were deleted from the voter rolls due to such mismatches in details.
"That's what they have done...there are some daughters who shifted to in-laws' house...their names were deleted...sometimes poor people shift...because of logical discrepancy," she said.