Mamata Banerjee Files Writ Petition In Supreme Court Against Election Commission Over West Bengal SIR Process

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court against the Election Commission of India, challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process ongoing in the State.The petition was filed on January 28, stating that the ongoing process will result in "large-scale disenfranchisement" caused by "the opaque, hasty, unconstitutional and illegal actions of the ECI."“The entire SIR exercise is an effort at disenfranchising the existing voters on the Electoral Roll by forcing them to prove their citizenship with “documentary” evidence against an arbitrary cut-off date of 2002. This violates the Constitution, the Representation of the People Acts of 1950 and 1951,” the petition stated.“ECI has turned the entire SIR exercise into a battlefield for voters who are scrambling through arbitrary rejection of documents, illogical hearings, inconsistent instructions, opaque rules, shifting stands and complete chaos caused by untested algorithm and software deployed by ECI,” the plea adds.The petitioner has alleged serious irregularities in the classification of individuals under the 'Logical Discrepancy' (LD) category, claiming that the list of such persons has not been uploaded online despite directions of the Court.Mamata Banerjee has contended that the failure to publish the LD list on the official portal has deprived affected persons of transparency and an effective opportunity to respond.The petition further alleges that “alarming information” has been received from several districts, including Malda, indicating that around 20,000 cases were moved from the 'Others' category to the 'Logical Discrepancy' category on the morning of January 22, 2026. The plea claims that this reclassification took place after the Supreme Court passed an order on January 19, 2026.Terming the move a “nefarious plan”, the petitioner has alleged that the respondent authorities deliberately increased the number of LD cases after the Court's order and subsequently sought to publish an extensive list of persons marked under the category.“This is highly illegal and reflects brazen impunity of law and a complete disregard of the order passed by this Hon'ble Court,” the petition states.Expressing lack of confidence with the SIR process, Banerjee has sought a direction that the polls be conducted based on the existing rolls prepared last year.She had earlier written to the Chief Election Commissioner stating that the process was being carried out in violation of the Representation of Peoples Act and the Rules. Earlier, TMC MP Derek Obrien had moved an application in the Supreme Court, contending that the ECI was issuing informal instructions to the Electoral Officers.Recently, the Supreme Court had issued a slew of directions to the ECI to ensure a smooth and transparent verification of persons included in the 'logical discrepancy' list after the publication of the draft roll. Last week, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal had orally told the Supreme Court that the ECI was not following the directions.Mamata Banerjee has sought the following reliefs in the petition :A.Set aside ECI's SIR notification of June 24, 2025 and October 27, 2025.B. Direct ECI to conduct the forthcoming 18th Legislative Assembly elections in the State of West Bengal in the year 2026, on the basis of the existing Electoral Rolls, 2025C. Direct ECI to issue written instructions to all DEOs, EROs, AEROs and BLOs that cases involving name mismatches / spelling variations falling under the "Logical Discrepancy" category shall not be called for hearing, and that all such name corrections may be carried out suo motu on the basis of available recordsD.Direct ECI to upload all names of 'unmapped' and Logical Discrepancy cases online on the CEO and DEO websitesE. Direct ECI to withdraw all hearing notices already issued in the past under the 'Logical Discrepancy category where the only issue is a name mismatch or spelling variation, and intimate the concerned electors accordingly.F. Direct the ECI to ensure that no voter marked under the Logical Discrepancy' category is deleted, and that while any anomalies may be duly rectified, no legitimate voter who has been successfully mapped to the 2002 electoral rolls and has submitted all requisite documents is disenfranchisedG. Direct ECI to accept Aadhar Cards as proof of identity especially in cases of 'Logical Discrepancy' without insisting on any other documentsH. Direct ECI to publish online names of all voters in respect of whom Form-7 has been received and to not allow any further bulk submission of Form-7I. Direct ECI to allow ERO/AERO to dispose of the cases locally where inter-state documents pending with DEO for verification beyond 5 [five] daysJ. Direct ECI to withdraw all Micro-Observers from the State of West BengalK. In the alternative to prayer (j) above, direct ECI to ensure that Micro-Observers do not exercise any statutory power such as participation in hearings/verification of work...

Mamata Banerjee Files Writ Petition In Supreme Court Against Election Commission Over West Bengal SIR Process

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