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'Why only Bengal': Mamata Banerjee challenges voter roll revision in Supreme Court
“Justice is crying behind closed doors,” Mamata Banerjee told the Chief Justice of India while arguing against the SIR exercise.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday appeared in person before the Supreme Court to argue her petition challenging the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State, telling the court that “justice is crying behind closed doors” as she pressed for urgent intervention ahead of the Assembly elections.
Banerjee, a trained advocate, is representing herself after moving an interlocutory application seeking permission to present arguments in her own case. Her petition seeks to quash all SIR-related orders issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on June 24, 2025 and October 27, 2025, along with all connected directives.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, is hearing a batch of petitions on the SIR exercise, including those filed by Banerjee, Mostari Banu, and Trinamool Congress MPs Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen.
'Justice is crying behind closed doors': Mamata Banerjee
Opening her submissions, Mamata Banerjee made an emotional appeal before the Bench, saying the revision process was being carried out in a manner that hurt ordinary voters.
“Justice is crying behind closed doors,” Banerjee told the Chief Justice of India while arguing against the SIR exercise.
She questioned the documentation requirements under the revision drive and alleged that West Bengal was being singled out close to elections.
“They say with Aadhaar we want another certificate. In other states domicile, caste certificate etc — nothing is allowed. They only targeted West Bengal on the eve of election,” Banerjee submitted in court.
She also attacked the timeline of the exercise, telling the Bench that the ECI was attempting to compress a long process into a short window. “They wanted to do something in 2 months which takes 2 years. When people are out they did it,” she said.
Referring to the pressure on election staff, Banerjee added, “BLOs committed suicide and they blamed the election officials. It is because of the harassment. West Bengal is targeted — why not Assam?”
