SIR row: Mamata demands CEC's arrest, calls for fresh West Bengal polls

Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday stepped up her criticism of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, demanding his arrest and calling for fresh Assembly elections in the state using the pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) electoral roll. Her remarks followed a report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to several decisions concerning electoral-roll management and the SIR exercise.

Speaking during a Facebook Live, Banerjee alleged that the BJP and the Election Commission had compromised the West Bengal Assembly elections held earlier this year and claimed that voters had been prevented from exercising their franchise. She called for the previous voter list to be restored and demanded fresh polls in states where she alleged electoral irregularities had taken place.

The Election Commission, however, has said that decisions related to the SIR were taken with the approval of all three commissioners. The reported objections by Sandhu and Joshi have nevertheless triggered renewed political criticism of the poll panel.

Banerjee said the Trinamool Congress had raised concerns about the SIR several months before the election. She alleged that lakhs of voters were affected by the revision and questioned the use of technology and the role of officials involved in managing electoral data. These allegations have not been independently established.

According to data submitted by the Election Commission to the Supreme Court, 27.16 lakh voters were removed from the West Bengal electoral rolls during the SIR process. Of the 38.31 lakh appeals filed over inclusions and exclusions, 22.21 lakh were submitted by deleted voters seeking restoration of their names.

Banerjee also alleged that EVMs had been manipulated and linked an earlier fire at the South 24 Parganas district magistrate's office to her claims. No evidence establishing those allegations was provided in her remarks.

She called for nationwide protests against Kumar and said INDIA bloc parties would meet on the issue. Banerjee also urged action against other election officials whom she alleged were involved in wrongdoing.

The TMC lost the West Bengal Assembly election earlier this year after 15 years in power. The party has attributed its defeat, among other factors, to the SIR exercise and what it has described as bias in the functioning of the Election Commission.

with inputs from PTI