Mamata Banerjee to move court again over voter deletions in Bengal

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticised the BJP and Election Commission over large-scale voter deletions, alleging manipulation. She said the TMC will move court again to challenge the exclusions and protect voters’ rights ahead of the elections

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP and the Election Commission over voter deletions during the SIR exercise and said her party will move court again to resist the removal of electors from the rolls.

Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters’ names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision in the state.

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“You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move court again to resist the exclusion of names,” Banerjee said while attacking her principal challenger BJP over the roll revision exercise.

Banerjee had in February moved the Supreme Court, seeking an intervention in the SIR process.

The EC figures showed the deletion of over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025.

Criticising the poll panel over the SIR process, the TMC supremo said, “We will fight legally to get the names included in the list as per the Constitution. If people cannot cast their votes, what is the need to frame the tribunal? And then you are saying that the list has been frozen. What is this? We will challenge it and try to understand it.”

Addressing a poll rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district, the TMC supremo accused the saffron party of trying to manipulate the electoral rolls and offering money to woo voters.

Banerjee also charged the Election Commission with intimidating people over the phone.

“It (EC) is working at the behest of the BJP. It is calling people over the telephone to threaten and intimidate them,” she claimed.

Later, while speaking at a rally in Balagarh in the same district, Banerjee warned that voting for the BJP would effectively mean “giving up fish, meat, and speaking in Bengali”.

“People are not allowed to eat eggs, fish or meat in the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The same will happen here if the BJP comes to power,” Banerjee claimed.

Addressing another rally in Sreerampore, the TMC supremo alleged that the BJP was planning to divide Bengal in the garb of delimitation.

“The BJP has targeted Bengal. It is conspiring to divide the state again. In the name of delimitation, you are planning to carve out another state from Bengal,” she said.