West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari defended the Election Commission on Sunday against accusations that it had acted unilaterally in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, blaming former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the deletion of 27 lakh names.
During a press conference in Kolkata, Adhikari highlighted a meeting held on September 26 between Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. He said the joint appearance and the statement issued by the poll panel confirmed that decisions regarding the SIR were taken collectively and had unanimous approval from all three commissioners.
Adhikari further argued that the responsibility for the large number of deletions lay with Mamata Banerjee, citing a Supreme Court case filed by her that led judicial officers to order the removal of 27.16 lakh names. He questioned why the Election Commission was being blamed when the court had directed the matter.
The controversy follows the TMC’s loss in the May assembly elections, after which the party blamed the SIR and a “biased Election Commission” for its defeat. More than 22 lakh electors deleted during the Bengal SIR have appealed for restoration, according to figures submitted to the Supreme Court.
With the Supreme Court having set up appellate tribunals to hear challenges, the SIR remains a central issue in West Bengal’s post‑election politics, as the BJP and TMC continue to contest the legitimacy of the roll revisions and the political consequences of the exercise.
