When Mamata Banerjee argued her case in Supreme Court, 1st serving CM to do so

As the courtroom battle unfolded, Mamata Banerjee took the unprecedented step of arguing in person before the Chief Justice of India, carrying the SIR fight beyond the streets and the political arena into the country's highest court.

With elections in Bengal round the corner, the political heat travelled to Delhi on a wintry Wednesday morning as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s convoy rolled up to the gates of the Supreme Court. Her target: the Election Commission, and its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state.

Banerjee arrived well ahead of the hearing, dressed in her signature white sari with a black shawl draped over her shoulder. The black, she said, was a mark of protest over what she claimed were more than 100 SIR-related deaths and in solidarity with the affected families during the ongoing exercise.

There was a novelty in her approach, a spring in her step as she carried her political battle into the courtroom.

Indeed, it was unprecedented, as Mamata Banerjee became the first Chief Minister to argue her case in person before the Supreme Court.

As she whisked past lawyers in the corridors -- some bowing, others hurriedly snapping pictures on their phones -- Mamata Banerjee smiled briefly, folding her hands, surrounded by her battery of lawyers and Z+ security personnel, deftly evading questions from the media.

Once inside the courtroom, Banerjee was initially asked to sit in the front row as a petitioner-in-person, but she chose instead to take a seat in the visitors’ gallery at the back with her lawyer until her matter was called.