WB DEC 11. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday escalated her attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, branding him “dangerous” and accusing the Centre and the Election Commission of using the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to illegally delete the names of lakhs of eligible Bengali voters ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Speaking at a rally in Krishnanagar in Nadia district, Banerjee alleged that Shah was personally directing a plan to remove up to “1.5 crore” names from the voters’ list. She warned that she would launch an indefinite dharna if even one eligible voter’s name was struck off during the SIR process.
Banerjee described the home minister as a figure of “disaster”, invoking mythological characters to sharpen her criticism and claiming the BJP was “weaponising” the SIR barely months before the polls. She asserted there would be no NRC or detention camps in West Bengal and vowed that no one would be forced out of the state.
The chief minister alleged that district magistrates were being pressured to delete names and that draft rolls were being prepared under the “instructions” of the BJP’s IT cell. She also accused the Election Commission of allowing BJP-aligned officials from Delhi to influence SIR hearings and questioned why only the BJP’s complaints were being acted upon.
Banerjee cited reports that voters who had referenced their grandparents in documentation would be summoned for hearings and risk removal from the rolls, calling this part of a wider plan to strike off names. She said she had refused to fill up her own SIR form until every ordinary citizen’s form was accepted, arguing that she should not have to prove her citizenship.
Election Commission officials have clarified that as the serving chief minister, Banerjee is already listed as a “marked elector” along with the prime minister and other constitutional office-bearers, and is not legally required to submit an enumeration form. The first phase of SIR ends on December 11, with draft rolls due on December 16, hearings and verification through December and mid-January, and final electoral rolls expected in mid-February.
