In a sharp escalation of the political tussle over voter list revision in West Bengal, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari has written to the Chief Election Commissioner, strongly rebutting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's demands to halt the process. The BJP leader categorically dismissed the Trinamool Congress chief's concerns as "desperate lies" and "nothing but pure fiction."
A Clash of Narratives Over Voter List Clean-Up
Adhikari's letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, sent on Monday, comes as a direct response to Banerjee's communication two days prior. The Chief Minister had flagged "serious irregularities, procedural violations and administrative lapses" during the Special Summary Revision (SIR) exercise and urged the poll body to suspend it if glitches persisted.
In his counter, Adhikari framed Banerjee's objections as a "desperate attempt to sabotage a vital and timely democratic exercise." He asserted that the SIR is a meticulously planned national initiative designed to cleanse the electoral rolls of duplicate, bogus, and ineligible entries that compromise democratic integrity. "It is not an 'unplanned, ill-prepared, and ad hoc' farce," he wrote, directly countering the CM's characterization.
Allegations of Sabotage and Defending the Process
The BJP leader launched a fierce attack on the ruling party's motives. He alleged that the Chief Minister's outrage stems from the SIR proving "devastatingly counterproductive to her party's prospects" in the 2026 Assembly Elections. Adhikari claimed the exercise exposes "fictitious voters, ghosts of the deceased, and illegal infiltrators" that his party alleges have been shielded by the TMC administration.
To counter claims of a flawed process, Adhikari detailed the preparation behind the SIR. He stated it followed extensive nationwide consultations and that comprehensive training was given to over 50,000 Booth Level Officers and Electoral Registration Officers in West Bengal alone. He rejected allegations of server failures, stating IT systems had processed millions of entries seamlessly with real-time transparency dashboards.
Adhikari accused the Trinamool Congress of actively trying to derail the revision through intimidation of officials, orchestrated protests, and online disinformation campaigns. He cited the alleged harassment of Electoral Roll Observer C Murugan as an example and urged the ECI to remain vigilant against such "shameful assault on Democratic institutions."
The Core of Mamata Banerjee's Concerns
In her original letter, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had painted a starkly different picture. She warned that continuing the SIR in its current form risked "irreparable damage, large-scale disenfranchisement of eligible voters, and a direct assault on the foundational principles of democratic governance."
She highlighted the immense strain on Booth Level Officers (BLOs), many of whom are teachers or anganwadi workers managing primary duties. Banerjee claimed the process was "crippled from day one" due to inadequate training, technical glitches, documentation confusion, and the impracticality of meeting voters during work hours. She cautioned that the credibility of the voter rolls themselves was at stake.
Adhikari, however, defended procedural aspects like checks for logical discrepancies and the appointment of neutral observers as part of a "gold standard verification process" necessary to prevent partisan interference. He stressed that all deletions follow the due process of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, with appeals mechanisms available.
Concluding his letter, the Leader of the Opposition urged the Election Commission to proceed with the SIR "undaunted," describing it as "not an assault on the Constitution but its truest vindication." This exchange sets the stage for a high-stakes confrontation between the state government and the central poll authority over an exercise that both sides view as critical to the electoral battle ahead.
