The controversy surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal has escalated further, with Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Monday accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of being the “mastermind” behind what he described as deliberate harassment in the voter list revision process.
After leading a protest march to the Raj Bhavan over the SIR issue, Adhikari alleged that large-scale, deliberate misspelling of voters’ names and surnames had occurred across several districts of the state. He claimed that District Magistrates and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) intentionally made errors in lakhs of entries to divert public attention from other serious issues such as misgovernance, corruption and infiltration.
According to Adhikari, the alleged irregularities were carried out statewide on the advice of the Chief Minister and political consultancy firm I-PAC. He demanded the immediate suspension of all officials involved in the process.
The Leader of the Opposition further alleged that the narrative of harassment being propagated around the SIR process was itself “pre-planned” and politically motivated. He claimed that Mamata played a direct role in shaping this strategy and said he was prepared to place evidence in support of his allegations.
Adhikari also referred to a series of meetings involving District Magistrates, held in the presence of former Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and the current Chief Secretary, Nandini Chakraborty. He alleged that during one such meeting, officials were asked to leave their mobile phones outside before entering, and that detailed instructions were issued on how to deliberately misspell names and surnames. According to him, these directions were given by the Chief Minister herself.
Describing the entire exercise as a “political strategy disguised as an administrative decision,” Adhikari claimed the SIR controversy was being used to divert public attention from other serious issues facing the state, including the RG Kar Hospital incident, alleged recruitment scams and infiltration concerns. He accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of attempting to keep the political discourse focused on voter list revision so that other allegations fade from public memory, calling it a “game of narrative-building.”
Meanwhile, Adhikari has written to Chief Secretary Nandini Chakraborty seeking a meeting on the issue. While sources in Nabanna, the state secretariat, said the Chief Secretary’s office responded that a meeting could be held on February 6 instead of Monday, Adhikari objected, citing the ongoing Assembly session on that day. The BJP has claimed that no reply has been received from the state secretariat to Adhikari’s subsequent letter.
The allegations have further sharpened the political battle between the TMC and the BJP over the SIR process, with both sides trading charges over the intent and implementation of the voter list revision exercise.
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