WEST Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday flayed the EC over the SIR of electoral rolls, claiming that voters in the state’s Matua-majority areas would be “immediately delisted” if declared foreigners under the CAA, and urged people not to resort to extreme steps under fear of the exercise. Addressing a rally here before a three-km march to Thakurnagar, Banerjee also vowed to “shake” the BJP’s foundation across the country if she was challenged in W Bengal. The Chief Minister said “human lives are too precious”, and appealed to people “not to die by suicide under the fear of SIR”.

 

She claimed that 35-36 deaths had already been linked to panic surrounding the voter revision exercise, including several suicides. Banerjee’s sharpest attack came on the question of citizenship, as she accused BJP-linked organisations in the Matua belt of issuing “misleading certificates” that would de facto brand applicants as Bangladeshis. “They are cheating you. Certificates dated November-December 2025 say you lived in Bangladesh till 2002. This is a huge fraud,” she asserted, contrasting the documents with those issued by the Ramakrishna Mission, which “never mention nationality”.

 

She reiterated that anyone applying under the Citizenship Amendment Act by stating Bangladeshi origin would “be immediately delisted as a voter”. “If those who voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls are not genuine, the BJP-led central government has no right to govern,” the CM said. 

 

 

THE EC has called TMC leaders for a meeting on Friday, after the party sought time with the poll panel amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in 12 states and Union territories, including West Bengal. In a letter to WB Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the EC said on Monday that a delegation comprising an authorised representative of the party and four others can meet its top brass at 11 am on Friday. The TMC, however, wrote to the EC again on Tuesday, saying a 10-member delegation would come for the meeting, with a senior party leader saying they will not agree to the upper limit on the number of members set by the poll panel. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also challenged the EC to telecast the proceedings of the meeting live. In its letter, the EC pointed out that TMC leader Derek O’Brien had requested for an appointment with a delegation of party MPs.

 

“The Commission always welcomes regular interaction with political parties for constructive dialogue. “Accordingly, the Commission has considered the party’s request and decided to give an appointment to the delegation comprising the authorised representative of the party along with four other members for a meeting at 11 am on November 28...,” the poll panel said. O’Brien wrote to the EC on Sunday seeking time. The TMC’s letter to the EC on Tuesday listed the names of 10 leaders who would attend the meeting. The list includes Lok Sabha MPs Satabdi Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Pratima Mondal, Sajda Ahmed and Mahua Moitra, and Rajya Sabha MPs Dola Sen, Mamata Thakur, Saket Gokhale and Prakash Chik Barik, besides O’brien, the leader of the TMC in the Rajya Sabha. “There is no way we are going to agree to the limit on the number of members in the delegation imposed by the EC. A 10-member delegation would go for the meeting,” a senior TMC leader said. In a post on X, Abhishek Banerjee said they have sought time for a delegation of 10 MPs. “Time has been sought for a delegation of 10 MPs. They are representatives elected by the people of India, unlike the CEC and ECs who are hand-picked by the Government of India. These selective leaks portraying the EC as ‘transparent’ and ‘cordial’ are nothing but a manufactured facade,” the TMC MP said.