'We Will Oppose It Tooth and Nail': Mamata Banerjee Warns Election Commission Over Bengal Voter List

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has come out strongly against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, calling it a move to disenfranchise voters in Bengal and Bihar. 

Addressing a rally in Kolkata on July 16, she warned that the Trinamool Congress would resist the exercise “tooth and nail” if it is implemented in Bengal ahead of the 2025 state elections.

Accusing the BJP of orchestrating the move through the poll panel, Banerjee alleged that names of genuine voters could be deliberately removed from the rolls. “There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the BJP wants to eliminate votes in Bengal. But we will fight them inch by inch,” she said.

The TMC’s concern mirrors similar opposition in Bihar, where the EC has already begun the SIR process. TMC MP Mahua Moitra, who filed a petition in the Supreme Court, claimed that the revision in Bihar is intended to suppress the voice of young and first-time voters, and alleged that West Bengal is the next target. On July 10, the top court allowed the process to continue in Bihar but advised the EC to accept Aadhaar, voter IDs, and ration cards as valid documents.

Mamata Accuses BJP of Harassing Bengalis Across India

The rally also served as a platform for Banerjee to lash out at the BJP for what she described as systemic harassment of Bengali-speaking people across BJP-ruled states. Citing instances of alleged discrimination, she accused the Centre of sending secret instructions to state authorities to detain Bengalis under the guise of checking their citizenship.

“I am ashamed and disheartened at the way Bengalis are being treated,” she said. “I will speak more in Bangla now. Let them try to throw me in a detention camp.”

Banerjee warned that the BJP’s “persecution politics” will not go unchallenged. “Extreme situations demand extreme responses. We won’t fight them physically, but we know how to make them stop, politically,” she declared.

As the 2024 general elections draw nearer, Banerjee’s fiery speech has once again positioned the TMC as a vocal opponent of both the BJP and the Election Commission, raising the political temperature in the region and setting the stage for what could be another high-stakes electoral battle.

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