WB CM Blames Mamata for Deletion of 27 Lakh Names from Voter List

With the poll panel facing continued scrutiny over its functioning and more than 22 lakh deleted electors having appealed against their exclusion, the SIR is set to remain a major issue in West Bengal’s post-election politics which has led to war of words between the West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and former CM Mamata Banerjee.

The CM on Sunday placed the blame on Mamata Banerjee for deletion of 27 lakh names and said that neither the BJP nor the ECI can be blamed for the exclusions. Adhikari’s remarks came a day after Banerjee sharpened her attack on the chief election commissioner, alleging that the SIR was being used to help the BJP capture Bengal and demanding fresh elections with the pre-SIR voter list.

At a presser, Suvendu also denied her allegations about the alleged differences between the Chief Election Commissioner Gyaneshwar Kumar and the other two ECs Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, saying the meeting and the subsequent statement issued by the poll panel made it clear that decisions relating to the SIR were not taken unilaterally by the CEC.

Showing a photograph of the CEC and the two election commissioners sitting together, as released by the poll panel a day ago, the BJP leader said the meeting of the three proved that the decisions were taken collectively.

The Election Commission said on Saturday that the June 24 order last year for the nationwide SIR, as well as subsequent schedules, had the unanimous approval of all three commissioners.

The TMC, which lost the West Bengal Assembly polls to the BJP in May this year, subsequently attributed its electoral debacle, among other factors, to the SIR and a “biased Election Commission”.

The voter roll revision led to the deletion of lakhs of names and placed lakhs more under adjudication.

On the controversy over the 27 lakh deletions, Adhikari said, “You (Mamata Banerjee) went to the Supreme Court. Acting on her petition, the court entrusted the matter to judges. So why is the EC being blamed now? She is responsible for this,” the CM added.

Adhikari, however, framed the issue primarily as a political battle over the 2026 Assembly verdict.

“If SIR is good in Kerala, why is it bad in West Bengal? We have won 208 seats, while the two sides (TMC and its allies) have 80. Mamata Banerjee is unable to accept the people’s verdict,” he said.

Adhikari’s reference to Kerala was aimed at questioning Banerjee’s opposition to the exercise in West Bengal even as such voter roll revisions have been undertaken in other parts of the country.

The political battle over the SIR is thus unfolding on two parallel tracks — over the legal and procedural questions surrounding electoral-roll revision and over political responsibility for the consequences of the exercise.