150 people dead in Bengal due to SIR pressure: Mamata Banerjee to Supreme Court

While presenting her arguments before the Supreme Court, Mamata Banerjee claimed that over 150 people had died due to the pressure of the exercise, including a Booth Level Officer who reportedly died due to severe stress due to directives from the Chief Electoral Officer.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state had caused severe distress. She claimed that over 150 people had died due to the pressure of the exercise, including a Booth Level Officer who reportedly died due to severe stress due to directives from the Chief Electoral Officer.

The Trinamool Congress supremo, who arrived in the national capital three days ago to escalate her standoff with the Election Commission of India, argued her case before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi, which was hearing multiple petitions challenging the SIR process in West Bengal.

Addressing the bench, the Chief Minister questioned why her state was being singled out.

“Why Bengal? Why not Assam or other northeastern states? The Election Commission is only targeting Bengal,” she said, urging the court to intervene to safeguard citizens’ democratic rights and alleging that Bengal was being unfairly targeted ahead of the elections.

Further in her arguments, Banerjee said the first phase of the SIR had resulted in nearly 58 lakh names being deleted, many without allowing voters to appeal under Form 6.

She claimed that these deletions were primarily carried out by micro-observers, reportedly from BJP-ruled states, while local electoral staff were sidelined, and alleged that valid documents such as domicile certificates and other government-issued proofs were being rejected.