West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her sit-in protest in Kolkata on March 6, 2026 against “arbitrary deletions” from the post-SIR electoral rolls in the State.
| Photo Credit: PTI
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday began a sit-in protest in Kolkata against the deletions of names in the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) carried out by the Election Commission (EC) in West Bengal.
Accompanied by several leaders of her party, the Trinamool Congress chairperson sat on protest at the Metro Channel in city’s Esplanade area and vowed to present those declared dead in electoral rolls on the stage before media persons. “They have nowhere to hide their face. The shameless BJP and their agent Election Commission,” Ms. Banerjee said. The Chief Minister said she would present 22 people who had been declared dead in the electoral rolls by the EC as well as eight families who had lost their kin to the SIR.
The protest by the Chief Minister comes almost a week after the EC declared final electoral rolls in the State on February 28. The list includes about 60 lakh electors whose fate hangs in balance and their right to vote remains under adjudication by judicial officers.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also joined the demonstration and said true to the claims of the BJP more than one crore names had been deleted after the SIR.
About 58 lakh voters’ names were removed in the draft electoral list. After that, on February 28 when the electoral roll was published, the number of deleted voters increased to 63 lakh. The number of electors under adjudication is more than 60 lakh. In total, 1.20 crore. This is what the BJP leaders were saying. This cannot be a coincidence.” Mr. Banerjee said.
The Diamond Harbour MP said the people would extend more to support the Trinamool Congress in the coming Assembly polls due to the SIR. “I am not only saying no vote to BJP, but calling for the boycott of BJP,” he said.
Newly nominated Rajya Sabha members, particularly former Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar and advocate Menaka Guruswamy also took part in the protest. Ms. Guruswamy also addressed the gathering and said the Constitution stated that all people were on equal footing and every one had a right to vote. “If 60 lakh people are put under adjudication and have no right to vote. How can we have free and fair elections,” Ms. Guruswamy asked. A monk from the Ramakrishna Mission also took to the protest stage and said his name was removed from the voter list.
The Trinamool Congress also took on social media and said “@BJP4India and its obedient @ECISVEEP thought they could quietly execute their SILENT INVISIBLE RIGGING, scrubbing genuine voters from the rolls and reducing democracy to a sham”. “They believed Bengal would not notice. Worse, they believed Bengal would meekly accept it. Bengal will not surrender its mandate to conspirators hiding behind institutions,” the West Bengal ruling party said.
The protests come days ahead of the full Bench of the EC led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is likely to arrive in the State to check the preparation for holding Assembly polls. The dharna of the Trinamool Congress is likely to continue for the next few days.
Published – March 06, 2026 03:49 pm IST
