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Mamata Banerjee vs Chief Election Commissioner: What is the row about | Explained
Mamata Banerjee said she walked out of a meeting with the CEC at his office in Delhi, accusing him of “insulting, disrespecting and humiliating her.”
The confrontation between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar escalated over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.
On Monday, CM Mamata Banerjee, along with Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders including Abhishek Banerjee and Kalyan Banerjee, met the Election Commission in New Delhi to raise concerns about the SIR process in West Bengal.
What did Mamata Banerjee say?
Banerjee said she walked out of a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar at his office in Delhi, accusing him of “insulting, disrespecting and humiliating” her when a delegation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) went to meet him in his office in New Delhi on Monday.
Also read| Mamata Banerjee storms out of meeting with CEC on SIR, says he humiliated her
She said, “Will the Election Commission choose the government before the election. We are watching. You have the power of the BJP. We have the power of the people. So we boycotted the meeting. They have insulted us, humiliated us. I am saying this type of Election Commission is very arrogant. He spoke with a certain attitude. Deliberately, he behaved so badly with us. He behaved badly, and he treated us badly.”
Banerjee “thumped the table and left” after raising allegations, while Election Commission officials countered that she left without hearing the EC’s responses, as per news agency PTI.
Banerjee had led a 14-member delegation, including TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and MP Kalyan Banerjee, and members of “SIR affected families” from West Bengal.
What the row is about
The conflict centres on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which the TMC claims has unfairly targeted West Bengal voters.
Banerjee and the TMC have been demanding that the ECI halt the ongoing SIR of the state’s electoral roll, alleging that the exercise in its present form would lead to “mass disenfranchisement” and “strike at the foundations of democracy.” Banerjee has also accused the ECI of committing serious irregularities, procedural violations, and administrative lapses.
Banerjee alleged that around 2 crore names have been removed from voter lists, including people wrongly marked as deceased, and criticised the process as politically motivated.
She added, "More than 150 people died, including the BLOs, due to this SIR. I have brought 100 people with me. There are some of them who have been declared dead in the voters list, but they are alive and present here.”
Banerjee argued that the SIR should have been implemented with proper planning, stating, "If you had to do SIR, you should have left the election-bound states and done it with proper planning, but you didn't. You have a BJP government in Assam. You didn't do SIR in Assam, but you did it in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.”
The SIR began in Bengal in November last year and the draft rolls shed 5.82 million names, the deletion percentage of 7.6% being the lowest among states that go to the polls this summer. Among the 12 regions where the process is underway, the most protests and controversies have been recorded in Bengal, where the ruling TMC is staunchly opposed to SIR and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has named infiltration as a key poll plank.
Election Commission’s response
ECI officials on Monday said the CEC had responded to Mamata Banerjee’s queries and that she still left the meeting at Nirvachan Sadan in a huff. They said the CEC told the delegation that the “rule of law will prevail” and anybody taking the law into their own hands will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the provisions of law and powers vested in the Commission.
The commission also cited incidents of vandalism at the ERO (SDO/BDO) offices by TMC workers and said there should be no pressure or interference of any kind on officers engaged in SIR work.
Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court challenging the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state. She filed the petition on January 28.
She has made the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal parties in the case. The matter is yet to be listed for hearing in the top court.
The Supreme Court is already hearing a bunch of petitions on the SIR issue.
(With PTI inputs)
