ECI a ‘Tughlaqi' commission: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday intensified her attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), calling it a “Tughlaqi Commission” and alleging that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state is being used to arbitrarily delete voters.

Speaking at the state secretariat, Banerjee accused the poll panel of targeting Bengal under political pressure. “A woman functionary in the BJP IT cell removed 58 lakh voters’ names in Bengal using AI. The EC is defying Supreme Court orders, targeting voters, and undermining democracy,” she alleged, without furnishing evidence.

Her remarks come amid mounting political and legal scrutiny of the SIR process in West Bengal, where lakhs of electors have been flagged under the category of “logical discrepancies” — a term the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has derided as vague and misleading.

What is the ‘logical discrepancy’ row?

Under the SIR, the ECI conducts a detailed verification of the electoral roll to remove ineligible entries such as deceased persons, duplicates or those who have shifted constituencies. In Bengal’s case, however, the process has been marked by a high volume of notices issued to voters flagged for “logical discrepancies”.

These discrepancies reportedly include anomalies such as implausible parent–child age gaps, repeated use of the same parentage details across multiple electors, and data mismatches detected through cross-verification exercises. The Commission has maintained that such flags are part of a standard data validation process aimed at cleaning the rolls before elections.

Banerjee has dismissed the justification as “nonsense”, arguing that ordinary citizens are being harassed and forced to prove their eligibility. “Citing logical discrepancies, it is snatching away democratic rights and treating ordinary people like terrorists. Bengal is being targeted to satisfy the BJP,” she said.

Bengal SIR vs other states

While SIRs have been and are being conducted in other states, the exercise in Bengal has become unusually contentious because of the scale of notices and the political climate in which it is unfolding. Unlike routine summary revisions that rely primarily on field verification and public objections, the Bengal exercise has involved extensive data scrutiny and individual hearings for flagged voters.

The TMC alleges that the scale of deletions and discrepancy notices in Bengal is disproportionate compared to other recent SIRs, raising fears of disenfranchisement ahead of upcoming elections. The ECI, however, has rejected claims of “mass deletions”, calling them exaggerated and politically motivated.

Mamata in Supreme Court

The dispute has reached the Supreme Court, where petitions have challenged aspects of the SIR process. In a rare move, Banerjee personally appeared in court during hearings on the matter, underscoring the political stakes involved. She argued that the process lacked transparency and adequate safeguards, and sought judicial intervention to ensure that genuine voters are not struck off the rolls without due process.

The Supreme Court has directed the ECI to enhance transparency, including by publicly displaying names of voters flagged under the “logical discrepancy” category at designated local offices, enabling them to respond and submit documents within a stipulated period.

Administrative fallout

Amid the controversy, the ECI suspended seven assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) in West Bengal for alleged irregularities in handling the revision process. Banerjee defended the officers and accused the Commission of victimising state officials.

“If Bengal government’s officers are victimised, we will 100 per cent protect them and promote those who are demoted,” she said.

In a dramatic claim, the CM also alleged that 160 people had died in the state due to “SIR anxiety and work-related pressure” so far, though no official data has corroborated that figure.

With the final electoral roll expected to be published shortly, the battle over the SIR — and the meaning and application of “logical discrepancies” — has become a major political flashpoint in West Bengal, setting the stage for further confrontation between the state government and the ECI.

With PTI inputs