New Delhi, February 9: The Supreme Court will hear West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee‘s petition on Monday, challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
According to the cause list published on the Supreme Court’s website, a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and N.V. Anjaria, will also consider similar petitions filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs Dola Sen and Derek O’Brien.
In her petition, the Chief Minister has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of political bias, questioning the validity of the SIR process. She claims that the current voter revision exercise could lead to the removal of millions of voters from marginalized communities.
Banerjee has requested interim directions to prevent the election body from removing any voter’s name during the SIR exercise, particularly for those categorized under “logical discrepancy.” In a previous hearing, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the ECI regarding Banerjee’s petition and scheduled the matter for further hearing on Monday.
The bench, led by the CJI, noted that spelling variations due to local dialects occur across India and cannot serve as a basis for disenfranchising genuine voters.
Addressing the Supreme Court, Chief Minister Banerjee claimed that women who change their surnames after marriage and individuals who move residences are disproportionately affected by this process.
She accused the ECI of deliberately targeting West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections, stating that similar voter revision exercises are not being conducted in northeastern states like Assam, and that her repeated representations to the ECI have gone unanswered.
In response to these arguments, the bench assured that the Supreme Court would seek a practical solution and emphasized that the rights of any genuine voter cannot be infringed upon.