West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission (EC) this Sunday, calling its National Voters’ Day celebrations a "tragic farce." In a series of sharp posts on X, the Trinamool Congress chief accused the poll panel of acting as "His Master’s Voice" for the Bharatiya Janata Party and suggested that the commission is actively working to dismantle the country's democratic foundation just months before the state goes to the polls.
The core of the dispute lies in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls currently underway in Bengal. Banerjee is furious over the scale and speed of the exercise, which saw the state's electorate shrink from 7.66 crore to 7.08 crore in the first phase alone— meaning over 58 lakh names were wiped off the draft rolls. She claims the process has devolved into a "torture" that has led to more than 130 deaths due to stress and illegal pressure.
"Can you summon persons above 85 or 90 years of age, and even the physically challenged, to physically appear and prove their credentials?" she asked. The Chief Minister further describe the exercise as a "hidden NRC trial," alleging that it specifically targets minorities, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes under the guise of fixing "logical discrepancies."
The situation has also become a legal battle. On Saturday, following a Supreme Court order, the EC began uploading the names of the 1.25 crore voters flagged for "logical discrepancies" to its website. The apex court had earlier directed that these lists be displayed at panchayat buildings and block offices to give people a fair chance to respond. However, Banerjee argues that the dispatch of micro-observers and the "unilateral illegalities" of the commission have turned a "festival of democracy" into a nightmare for voters.
While the EC maintains it is simply following Supreme Court mandates and cleaning up the rolls to ensure a fair election, Banerjee’s rhetoric makes it clear that the Trinamool Congress views the commission as a partisan player. For her, the celebration of Voters’ Day is an insult to those currently struggling to keep their names on the list.
Also read: Delhi is now a ‘centre of conspiracy’: Mamata targets Centre
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