West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday levelled grave allegations against the Election Commission of India and the central government, holding them responsible for a spate of suicides in the state which she linked to anxiety over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Speaking at a programme on Kolkata’s Red Road to mark the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Banerjee claimed, “More than 110 people have already died; everyday three to four people are dying by suicide out of SIR anxiety.” She asserted that the Election Commission and the central government “must take responsibility for the deaths.”
The SIR exercise is a special drive to update voter lists currently underway in West Bengal ahead of the upcoming assembly polls.
The Chief Minister’s charges form part of a broader political offensive. She accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “conspiring against Bengal,” and claimed that national icons like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose, and B.R. Ambedkar were being insulted.
Earlier this week, while inaugurating the 49th International Kolkata Book Fair, she had made similar claims about the death toll. On that platform, she also announced her 162nd book—a compilation of 26 poems titled Koro na Kosto (Don't Torment)—which she said articulates the “agony faced by people due to the SIR exercise.”
Banerjee painted a picture of public hardship driving the crisis. She stated that scores of people, including the elderly, are forced to line up at SIR camps for hearings and wait for “five-six hours in the open every day.” She criticized the EC’s approach to the revision process, saying, “Citing logical discrepancies, they (EC) are picking up issues like surnames of Bengalis which had been known and accepted for years.”
This suggests the revision process is mired in bureaucratic challenges over name spellings and entries, causing widespread distress among citizens fearful of losing their voting rights.
The allegations come at a critical juncture in Bengal’s highly charged political landscape. The SIR is a routine pre-election process aimed at ensuring an accurate electoral roll by weeding out duplicates, correcting errors, and enrolling new voters. However, the ruling Trinamool Congress has consistently framed it as an unnecessary and targeted exercise orchestrated by the BJP-led Centre through the Election Commission to harass citizens and potentially disenfranchise voters.
The Election Commission has yet to officially respond to Friday’s specific allegations. Typically, the EC maintains that its revision drives are impartial and essential for the integrity of the democratic process.
Banerjee’s stark statements, directly linking administrative procedures to loss of life, significantly raise the stakes of the ongoing voter revision. They reflect the deep political tensions in the state and set the stage for a fierce contest over the fairness and implementation of electoral preparedness. The claims also put immense pressure on the Election Commission to transparently review the process and address concerns of public harassment, even as it defends the necessity of the clean-up drive. The human cost, as alleged, threatens to become a central point of political contention in the run-up to the state elections.
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