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Barely 24 hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar seeking a halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari has sent a strongly worded counter-letter to the Election Commission. In his letter, Adhikari accused the Chief Minister of spreading misinformation and attempting to protect fake voters for political gain.
Mamata Banerjee, in her four-page letter to the Election Commission, alleged that the SIR process was poorly planned, flawed, and being implemented without proper guidelines. She also warned that if the Commission failed to consider the state’s objections, the SIR process should be suspended. The Chief Minister further accused the Election Commission of issuing instructions through informal channels like WhatsApp instead of following established procedures.
Responding to these claims, Suvendu Adhikari dismissed Mamata Banerjee’s allegations as “imaginary and misleading.” In his letter to the CEC, he claimed that the Chief Minister’s demand to stop the SIR process clearly shows her anxiety. According to Adhikari, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) fears that the voter list revision will expose long-standing irregularities that have allegedly benefited the ruling party during elections.
Adhikari strongly objected to Mamata Banerjee’s criticism of the Election Commission’s use of digital platforms like WhatsApp. He argued that in the modern administrative system, digital communication is widely used for quick clarifications, especially when time-bound tasks are involved. “Formal notifications and gazette publications follow later, but day-to-day updates through digital means reflect the Election Commission’s proactive and responsive approach,” Adhikari stated, rejecting the notion that such communication causes confusion.
The BJP leader further alleged that the SIR process is uncovering fake voters, illegal immigrants, and duplicate entries in the voter list—issues he claims the TMC has ignored or encouraged for years. “The concerns raised by the Chief Minister are completely fabricated. In reality, the SIR process is exposing those illegal voters who were used to manipulate election outcomes,” Adhikari wrote.
According to him, the SIR exercise is a “death signal” for the TMC’s hopes of returning to power in 2026. He accused Mamata Banerjee of repeatedly lying about the process and formally requested the Chief Election Commissioner to reject her latest letter seeking a suspension of the SIR. “Her concerns are nothing but baseless claims,” Adhikari said.
Adhikari went on to allege that the SIR has brought to light serious issues such as deceased voters being shown as alive, fake voter identities, and the alleged sheltering of illegal infiltrators. “These matters have now become crystal clear. This is why the Chief Minister is panicking,” he claimed, adding that the voter list revision has struck at the core of the TMC’s political strategy.
The letter triggered a sharp reaction from the Trinamool Congress. Senior TMC leader Jay Prakash Majumdar called Adhikari’s letter “anti-Bengal” and accused the BJP of controlling the Election Commission from behind the scenes. He alleged that the Commission had nothing credible to say in response to Mamata Banerjee’s objections and may have instead encouraged Adhikari to write the counter-letter. “The BJP is running the Election Commission indirectly,” Majumdar claimed.
As the political battle over the SIR process intensifies, it is clear that the issue has become a major flashpoint ahead of future elections in West Bengal, with both sides refusing to back down.
