4 months ago
1
West Bengal's Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari connected Monday (January 5, 2026) wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, urging him to proceed the SIR of electoral rolls "undaunted", 2 days aft Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sent a missive stating that the workout should beryllium halted.
Mr. Adhikari claimed that the CM's telephone to "halt" the peculiar intensive revision (SIR) is thing abbreviated of an "admission of defeat", and a "brazen effort to perpetuate the electoral malfeasance" that has defined her tenure.
Also Read | Rectify glitches oregon halt SIR: West Bengal CM urges CEC successful 3rd letter
He alleged Ms. Banerjee's "litany of grievances" is not lone factually inaccurate but a deliberate distortion designed to malign the Election Commission of India (ECI) arsenic "politically motivated" and to manufacture a mendacious communicative of wide discomfort and disenfranchisement.
"By contrast, the radical of West Bengal person embraced the SIR arsenic a beacon of hope. Her communicative of ‘anxiety and harassment’ is simply a TMC-orchestrated mirage, drowned retired by the chorus of support from those who cull her authorities of patronage and similar the purity of the ballot," helium claimed successful the missive that helium shared connected X.
Dismissing allegations of undue haste and inadequate preparation, Mr. Adhikari said much than 50,000 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) successful the State had undergone grooming for the revision exercise.
He defended the usage of integer platforms specified arsenic WhatsApp for urgent clarifications, calling them supplementary to ceremonial circulars and accordant with modern administrative practices.
The BJP leader, successful turn, accused the State medication and TMC members of attempting to derail the SIR by intimidating tract officials and spreading misinformation.
He said the exclusion of Booth-Level Agents (BLAs) from definite hearings was indispensable to guarantee neutrality and forestall "cadre-led disruptions" during the process.
"I implore the ECI to property guardant with the SIR undaunted, fortified by the unwavering enactment of the antiauthoritarian masses. This workout is not an battle connected the Constitution but its truest vindication, purging the shadows that person eclipsed our polls for excessively long," helium said.
In a powerfully worded missive dated January 3, Ms. Banerjee urged Kumar to halt the "arbitrary and flawed" SIR successful the State, informing that its continuation successful the contiguous signifier could trigger "mass disenfranchisement" and "strike astatine the foundations of democracy".
Ms. Banerjee accused the ECI of presiding implicit an "unplanned, ill-prepared and advertisement hoc" process marked by "serious irregularities, procedural violations, and administrative lapses".
