Mamata Banerjee moves Supreme Court against Bengal SIR; Election Commission and state poll body made parties in case

NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has approached the Supreme Court challenging the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state, PTI reported on Sunday.Banerjee filed the petition on January 28, naming the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the chief electoral officer of West Bengal as respondents. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo had earlier announced on January 3 her intention to move the top court against the exercise. The petition is yet to be listed for hearing. The Supreme Court is already seized of multiple petitions related to the SIR, including those filed by TMC MPs.Earlier, Banerjee had written to chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, urging him to halt what she described as an “arbitrary and flawed” revision of electoral rolls in the state, where assembly elections are expected in April–May.Escalating her criticism of the ECI, she warned that continuing the SIR in its present form could lead to “mass disenfranchisement” and undermine the “foundations of democracy.”In a strongly worded letter dated January 3, Banerjee accused the poll body of conducting an “unplanned, ill-prepared and ad hoc” process riddled with “serious irregularities, procedural violations, and administrative lapses.”