West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched a fresh and sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of conducting a deeply flawed voter list revision exercise that is causing widespread hardship and has allegedly led to multiple deaths. In a new letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday, Banerjee threatened to move the Supreme Court over the "inhumane treatment" of citizens.
Allegations of Ignoring Two Decades of Corrections
In her detailed letter, the Trinamool Congress chief made a serious accusation: the Election Commission is forcing voters to re-establish their identities from scratch, completely disregarding statutory corrections made to the electoral rolls over the past 20 years. She stated that this has created unnecessary confusion and burden for ordinary citizens during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which has been running in the state for over two months.
Banerjee pointed to what she called a fundamental flaw in the process. She claimed that errors introduced during the digitization of the 2002 voters' list using artificial intelligence are now causing genuine voters to be excluded. The revision process, she argued, is mechanically driven by technical data without the necessary human judgment, leading to distress.
Procedural Lapses and Harassment of Women Voters
The Chief Minister listed several procedural failures, including the EC's alleged failure to issue proper acknowledgements for documents submitted by citizens during the SIR. She expressed deep shock at the commission's approach, which she said is relentlessly harassing ordinary people.
Banerjee reserved particularly strong criticism for the treatment of women voters. She highlighted that women who have moved to their matrimonial homes and changed their surnames after marriage are being summoned to prove their identity. "This not only reflects a complete lack of social sensitivity but also constitutes a grave insult to women and genuine voters," she wrote, questioning if this was how a constitutional authority should treat half the electorate.
She also mentioned that even prominent personalities like Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, poet Joy Goswami, and cricketer Mohammed Shami were reportedly asked to establish their credentials, calling it a "profound shame."
Earlier Letter Cited 77 Deaths, Unplanned Exercise
This latest letter follows an even more explosive communication from Banerjee just two days prior. In that earlier letter, she made the staggering claim that the revision drive had already resulted in 77 deaths, along with 4 suicide attempts and 17 hospitalizations.
She had blamed these tragedies on fear, intimidation, and a disproportionate workload placed on field staff due to what she described as an unplanned exercise undertaken by the ECI. Banerjee alleged that the process was conducted without adequate preparation, leading to extreme stress. Several Booth Level Officers have reportedly died due to health complications or suicide linked to the increased pressure.
Her earlier letter ended with a handwritten postscript stating, "Though I know you won't reply or clarify. But it was my duty to inform you the details." On Monday, she reiterated her intent to seek judicial intervention, signaling a major escalation in her ongoing confrontation with the poll body over an issue she frames as a threat to democratic foundations.
