Mamata tears into EC in Supreme Court over Bengal SIR: 'Justice is crying'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blasted the Election Commission (EC) in the chamber of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant at the Supreme Court on Wednesday (February 4) afternoon after she reached there to present her case challenging the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in her poll-bound state.

The apex court will hear the matter next on Monday (February 9).

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The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo, who is in the national capital to challenge the procedure, which Bengal's ruling party has accused as a political vendetta to help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next polls, requested five minutes to present her case before Kant. The latter agreed to give her 15 minutes.

Alleging that they were not getting justice, Mamata said, “Sir, the problem is...in the end, we are not getting justice anywhere. I have written six times to the ECI but still not getting any reply. Justice is crying behind closed doors.” Gradually, the chief minister turned her complaint against the EC, whose top officials she met on Monday (February 2) and expressed disappointment, into a full-blown attack.

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The Bench comprising CJI Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi, as per reports, acknowledged that the leader’s plea is genuine and assured that every problem has a solution. The apex court also issued a notice to the commission on Mamata’s petition.

What Bengal CM told the SC

Mamata told the apex court that the SIR procedure was being implemented with the sole goal of omitting names. She alleged that even women's names were getting removed if they went to the in-laws' homes after marriage, whereby their surnames changed and that poor people were being removed from the rolls if they changed their residential address. Bengal was being targeted intentionally, according to her.

A procedure that takes two years was being rushed in two months, causing people unending harassment, Mamata said. "I have come here to speak for people's rights, not the party," the CM remarked, urging the CJI to save democracy.

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"The SIR process is only for deletion...suppose a daughter after marriage goes to in-laws' house...questions are why she is using husband's title etc...sometimes, poor people purchase flat, sometimes they shift...but all are deleted. They (ECI) violated your order and said it is an incorrect mapping," she said, according to a Bar and Bench report.

'Why not Assam?'

"They say with Aadhaar, we want another certificate. In other states, domicile, caste certificate etc nothing is allowed. They only targeted West Bengal on the eve of election. They wanted to do something in 2 months which takes 2 years. When people are out, they did it. BLOs committed suicide and they blamed the election officials. It is because of the harassment. West Bengal is targeted, why not Assam?"

The TMC supremo also said that the electoral registration officer has no role. According to her, micro observers have been appointed from the BJP-ruled states to remove the names.

Also read: Mamata looks to up SIR ante for bigger national footprint

"Fifty-eight lakhs deleted in first phase...so many called dead...This Election Commission, sorry WhatsApp Commission, is doing all of this," Mamata said, taunting the commission.

Names of 58 lakh voters were eliminated in the draft electoral roll published by the EC in December 2025 for the first phase of the SIR of the state’s voters’ lists.

In 2025, the EC held an SIR in Bihar ahead of the assembly polls that state. Several petitions, including those filed by bodies such as the Association for Democratic Reforms and the National Federation for Indian Women, challenged the legality of the SIR. However, the ECI proceeded with it in Bihar since the top court did not stay the same.

What the SC said

On the complaint of an alleged discrepancy, the CJI advised the Bengal government to provide a team of officials well-conversant in the Bengali language and help the EC verify the problem of name mismatch. "Let us give them one day," he said.

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The court also cautioned the commission against omitting "genuine persons'.

"One objective is to weed out dead, then to weed out them who are disqualified...and then migrants - genuine persons - must remain on the rolls...but by virtue of this kind of mistake, such bonafide persons cannot be left out...entire procedure has a timeline. We had extended it for 10 days and now only 4 days are left. We cannot grant you the luxury of one week...if Roy, Dutta Ganguly etc are being left out...we don't know how Tagore is pronounced... but that does not mean Tagore is not Tagore," the CJI said.