Kolkata: Former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday demanded the arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and sought fresh assembly polls in the state with the pre-SIR voter list, escalating her attack on the EC following a news report about dissent within it over decisions regarding electoral roll revision.
Banerjee, in a Facebook live, alleged that the BJP and the Election Commission had “looted” the West Bengal Assembly polls held earlier this year and claimed that voters were prevented from exercising their franchise.
Her remarks came after an Indian Express report claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected at least 14 times over 10 months to SIR-related decisions, including voter deletions and electoral roll data.
The EC has, however, said that decisions relating to SIR were taken unanimously with the approval of all three commissioners.
“It has now been proven that the BJP and the EC looted the West Bengal assembly polls. The old voter lists must be restored, and in states where elections were conducted after EVMs were captured or hijacked and voters were prevented from exercising their rights, fresh elections should be held based on the old voter lists,” Banerjee said.
“There will be pan-India protests till Gyanesh Kumar remains CEC. He should be arrested and criminal proceedings initiated against him. The chair of the CEC is not for a person like him. It’s another fight for freedom, this time from the compromised CEC, and the BJP that has destroyed India,” she added.
She said INDIA bloc partners have spoken about the matter and will meet soon.
The TMC lost the West Bengal Assembly polls in May this year, ending its uninterrupted 15-year rule in the state. The party attributed its electoral debacle, among other factors, to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which had deleted lakhs of names and placed several lakh others under adjudication, as well as to, what it described as, a “biased” EC.
She claimed that seven to eight months before the elections, her party had raised concerns over voters’ rights being forcibly taken away.
The reported internal objections provided fresh political ammunition to an argument Banerjee had been making for months: the revision of electoral rolls was not merely an administrative exercise but part of a wider attempt to alter the electorate before the West Bengal polls.
She claimed that 58 lakh voters in West Bengal were initially affected by the SIR process, with 27 lakh subsequently excluded, while another 7 lakh names were deleted. She put the combined figure at 92 lakh.
Banerjee also alleged that the process involved an AI-based system and repeatedly questioned the role of EC’s IT officials, naming Seema Khanna, Director General (IT) of the poll panel, in particular. These allegations are disputed and have not been independently established.
The scale of the numbers has become a central political flashpoint. The EC recently told the Supreme Court that 27.16 lakh voters had been removed from the West Bengal rolls during SIR, of whom more than 22 lakh had appealed for reinstatement. In all, 38.31 lakh appeals had been filed, including petitions seeking both inclusion and deletion of names.
Banerjee’s demand for a return to the pre-SIR voter list, therefore, goes beyond a challenge to the revision process. She wants the electoral foundation on which the assembly election was conducted to be revisited.
Alleging that EVMs were “captured or hijacked”, Banerjee cited an alleged fire at the South 24 Parganas district magistrate’s office in Alipore, claiming that it broke out at a place where EVMs were stored, and linked the incident to constituencies where she alleged the BJP had benefited from manipulation. The allegation, however, was made without providing evidence in her remarks.
The former chief minister said action must also be taken against deputy election commissioners, IT officials, electoral registration officers and others whom she alleged had participated in wrongdoing.
Banerjee called for a nationwide movement against the Election Commission and urged political parties, NGOs and others to join protests.
She also accused the BJP government of wider repression in West Bengal, alleging that more than 65 people had been killed in four months and around 14,000 cases filed.
Banerjee further alleged that police were being used politically, saying officers should remember that “governments change but the uniform remains”. She linked this to complaints by women and other sections seeking justice.
The remarks come days after the Election Commission froze the use of the ‘All India Trinamool Congress’ name and its reserved ‘twin flowers-and-grass’ symbol amid an escalating factional feud over control of the party.
The poll panel subsequently allotted separate interim identities to the two groups for the October 6 bypolls, with the Mamata faction getting ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘football player’ symbol, while the rival faction led by Arup Roy was allotted ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘envelope’ symbol.
Banerjee portrayed that episode as another example of what she called “institutional overreach”, saying her party’s symbol had been taken away after it protested against the commission.
She also invoked an earlier parliamentary battle, saying INDIA bloc parties had submitted a notice seeking the CEC’s removal and that it was rejected.
“Election Commission hatao, BJP hatao, chief election commissioner hatao,” she said, adding her party was ready for another struggle to protect democracy and freedom.
