In a rare moment that will likely be remembered in India’s legal history, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stepped away from her administrative desk to stand before the Chief Justice of India. Appearing “in-person” on Monday, February 9, Banerjee urged the Supreme Court to intervene in what she described as a systematic effort to “bulldoze” the voters of Bengal.
The bone of contention is the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Banerjee, a lawyer by training, argued that this exercise is being used not for inclusion, but for the mass “deletion” of genuine citizens. She pointed out that minor linguistic variations—like ‘Roy’ and ‘Ray’ or ‘Dutta’ and ‘Datta’—are being treated as “logical discrepancies” to strike names off the list.
“Sir, save democracy,” she told the bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant. She highlighted the plight of married women and poor migrants whose names have been flagged simply because their documents don’t match the rigid parameters set by the commission. According to her petition, nearly 58 lakh voters have already been deleted, and millions more are under the scanner.
The Chief Minister’s personal appearance wasn’t just a legal necessity but a political statement. She questioned why such a massive exercise, which usually takes two years, was being compressed into just three months right before the 2026 Assembly elections. She also raised eyebrows by asking why only West Bengal was being “targeted” while other states were spared such scrutiny.
On the other side, the Election Commission argued that the revision was necessary for a clean electoral roll and cited a lack of cooperation from the state government in providing officers for the task. The court, while maintaining a balanced approach, assured the CM that no genuine citizen should be left out. The bench even suggested that the state provide its own Group B officers to assist the ECI, which might eventually lead to the removal of the controversial “micro-observers” Banerjee has been protesting against.
As the legal battle intensifies, the Supreme Court has made it clear: the SIR must proceed, but it must be transparent. For Mamata Banerjee, this is a fight for every vote; for the ECI, it’s about procedural integrity.
