Mamata slams SIR as ‘chaotic, coercive’, urges CEC to stop exercise

Kolkata: Upping the ante on SIR, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a strongly worded letter to CEC Gyanesh Kumar on Thursday, asking him to immediately halt the exercise that she claimed was “chaotic, coercive and dangerous”.

Banerjee said she was “compelled to write” because the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls in the state had reached a “deeply alarming stage”, alleging that the drive was being run in an “unplanned, dangerous” manner that had “crippled the system from day one”.

The BJP, however, dismissed the allegations, claiming that the ruling TMC was “trying to halt the lawful SIR process” in the state.

“The manner in which this exercise is being forced upon officials and citizens is not only unplanned and chaotic, but also dangerous,” the chief minister wrote, adding that the absence of “basic preparedness, adequate planning or clear communication” had pushed the process into disarray.

The chief minister accused the Election Commission of thrusting the SIR upon officials and citizens “without basic preparedness”, flagging “critical gaps in training”, confusion over mandatory documents, and the “near-impossibility” of booth-level officers (BLOs) meeting voters “in the midst of their livelihood schedules”.

These failures, she warned, had rendered the entire exercise “structurally unsound” and placed its “credibility at severe risk”.

In the strongly worded communication, among her most severe yet, Banerjee urged the chief election commissioner (CEC) to “intervene decisively to halt” the drive, stop “coercive measures”, provide proper training and support, and “thoroughly reassess” the current methodology and timelines.

“If this path is not corrected without delay, the consequences for the system, the officials and the citizens will be irreversible,” she cautioned, calling the moment one that demands “responsibility, humanity and decisive corrective action”.

Her three-page letter painted a grim portrait of BLOs stretched “far beyond human limits”, juggling their principal duties, “many being teachers and frontline workers”, while conducting door-to-door surveys and navigating glitch-ridden e-submissions.

Most BLOs, she said, were “struggling with online forms due to lack of training, server failures and repeated data mismatches”.

“At this pace, it is almost certain that by December 4, voter data across multiple constituencies cannot be uploaded with required accuracy,” she warned.

Under “extreme pressure and fear of punitive action”, many were being pushed to make “incorrect or incomplete entries”, risking disenfranchisement of genuine voters and “eroding the integrity of the electoral roll”.

Banerjee reserved her sharpest criticism for what she described as the EC’s “indefensible” response.

“Instead of offering support or addressing systemic flaws, the Office of the CEO, West Bengal, has resorted to intimidation,” she alleged, claiming that show-cause notices were being issued “without justification”.

The chief minister said BLOs, already “stretched and distressed”, were being threatened with disciplinary action because “the commission refuses to acknowledge the reality on the ground”.

Compounding the strain, she said, was the timing of the drive: West Bengal is at the peak of paddy harvest and in the middle of Rabi sowing.

“Millions of farmers and labourers cannot be expected to abandon the fields to participate in SIR enumeration,” she wrote.

But it was the “human cost”, she said, that had become “unbearable”.

She cited the suicide of an anganwadi worker serving as a BLO in Jalpaiguri’s Mal area, reportedly under “crushing SIR-related pressure”, and said “several others have lost their lives since this process began”.

A revision that once took three years had been “forcibly compressed into three months”, creating “inhuman working conditions” and a pervasive “shadow of fear and uncertainty”, she said.

“Continuing this unplanned, coercive drive not only endangers more lives but also jeopardises the legitimacy of the electoral revision itself,” she claimed.

The BJP dismissed Banerjee’s charges, accusing her of trying to derail a lawful process.

“No amount of threats, theatrics or falsehoods can stall the SIR. If the chief minister is uncomfortable with a lawful exercise that exposes her politics of infiltration, she should clarify her stand publicly or step down,” Union minister and former BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said.

Despite TMC’s lies and bullying, the Election Commission is efficiently implementing SIR in Bengal. If the chief minister cannot accept this reality, she should resign immediately,” he added.

The Trinamool Congress countered the BJP with equally sharp criticism, accusing the EC of “inhuman haste”.

“The EC is exposing its inhuman side by setting totally unrealistic deadlines for BLOs, piling on massive and merciless work pressure simply to appease its political masters in the Narendra Modi government,” TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said.

He claimed that the poll panel had shown “no remorse or sympathy” for BLO deaths.

“So far, 30 people have died in Bengal by suicide or heart attack, fearing the loss of their voting rights, including two BLOs who took their lives due to work pressure,” he alleged.

The EC is yet to respond to Banerjee’s latest salvo as political temperatures around what was once a routine administrative exercise continue to spike amid mounting accusations of coercion, chaos and overreach.