In an unprecedented move, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee personally appeared before the Supreme Court on February 4, 2026, to argue against the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in her state. Banerjee, a law graduate, became the first serving chief minister to argue her own case in the apex court, highlighting what she described as severe irregularities and targeted harassment through the voter list revision process.
The SIR exercise, aimed at cleansing electoral rolls, has been contentious in West Bengal, with Banerjee alleging that it disproportionately affects genuine voters, particularly in an opposition-ruled state. She claimed that nearly 58 lakh names were marked for deletion in the first phase alone, including instances where women were removed due to name changes after marriage or address shifts. Banerjee questioned the haste of the three-month process, arguing that such revisions typically take years and that the timing during festival and harvesting seasons caused undue hardship.
During the hearing before a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, Banerjee asserted that only West Bengal was being singled out, asking why similar scrutiny was not applied in states like Assam. She criticized the Election Commission as operating like a 'WhatsApp Commission' and accused it of not accepting valid documents such as Aadhaar cards despite prior court observations. Banerjee also raised concerns over reports of more than 100 deaths, including booth-level officers, allegedly linked to the stress of the SIR process.
The chief minister urged the court to direct that the upcoming assembly elections be conducted based on the existing 2025 voter list to prevent disenfranchisement of lakhs of legitimate voters. The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission and heard submissions from both sides, with suggestions for deputing officers to verify discrepancies arising from linguistic translations or minor errors.
The development comes amid heightened political tensions ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, with Banerjee framing the SIR as an attempt to undermine democracy and target her Trinamool Congress supporters. Opposition parties, including the BJP, have countered by accusing her of opposing the clean-up to protect ineligible voters. The court's final decision on the matter remains pending, but Banerjee's direct intervention has intensified the debate over electoral integrity and federal fairness in India's democratic process.
