West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday indicated that she is likely to move the Supreme Court against what she described as widespread “harassment” of people due to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, intensifying her standoff with the Election Commission of India (ECI) ahead of the crucial Assembly elections due in about three months.

Addressing a government programme in South 24 Parganas district, Banerjee alleged that the SIR exercise has caused immense distress to ordinary citizens, including the elderly, the infirm, and vulnerable sections of society. She claimed that the revision process had already resulted in deaths and severe mental trauma among people asked to repeatedly prove their eligibility as voters.

“We are taking legal help. So many people have died. People are being harassed. Tomorrow, when the courts reopen, we will move legally against this. If necessary, I will seek permission to plead myself in the Supreme Court,” Banerjee said, signalling that the matter could soon escalate into a high-profile constitutional confrontation.

However, the chief minister did not clarify whether the proposed legal challenge would be filed by the West Bengal government or by her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Both options remain open, political observers noted, depending on the legal strategy adopted to contest the Election Commission’s actions.

The remarks came amid mounting political tension over the SIR, which the Election Commission says is a routine but crucial exercise aimed at cleaning up electoral rolls by removing duplicate, bogus, or ineligible entries. The TMC, however, has alleged that the process is being conducted in a hurried, opaque, and coercive manner, disproportionately affecting genuine voters in West Bengal.

Reacting to Banerjee’s statement, West Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose said the chief minister has every right to raise concerns over any democratic process and that such apprehensions should be addressed institutionally.

“The chief minister of any state has every right to express apprehensions on any process in a democracy. These apprehensions have to be addressed. I am sure the ECI, which is strong and balanced, will be able to find an answer to these in a satisfactory manner,” Bose told reporters, adopting a conciliatory tone amid the escalating dispute.

The chief minister’s latest comments follow a four-page letter she wrote on Saturday to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in which she alleged that the SIR exercise was fundamentally flawed and could lead to the disenfranchisement of millions of legitimate voters. In the letter, Banerjee said that people who have lived in the country and voted for decades are now being forced to repeatedly prove their citizenship and voter status.

“Ailing elderly people, nonagenarian citizens, pregnant women are being called for hearing. After being residents of this country, they now need to prove whether they are voters and citizens,” Banerjee wrote, describing the process as inhumane and insensitive.

The confrontation between the TMC and the Election Commission intensified further after a TMC delegation, led by the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, met the chief election commissioner in New Delhi on December 31, 2025. Following the meeting, Abhishek Banerjee alleged that Kumar lost his temper and addressed him inappropriately. The Election Commission, however, rejected this claim and instead accused the TMC of failing to restrain its ground-level leaders from allegedly intimidating election staff engaged in the SIR exercise.

Mamata Banerjee has also accused the Election Commission of relying excessively on technology without adequate safeguards. “The EC is being run through WhatsApp and names of voters are being deleted using AI,” she alleged on Monday. “We surely want to enroll our names in the electoral roll. SIR should be held over a period of two years. Why are you using force and trying to complete it within two months?”

The chief minister further claimed that the exercise has already had tragic consequences. “More than 70 persons have died, including some who died by suicide. A few others are admitted in hospitals,” she said, though the Election Commission has not confirmed these figures.

According to official data released by the poll body, the scale of the revision in West Bengal is unprecedented. On December 16, the Election Commission published the draft electoral roll after the first phase of the SIR, revealing that the electorate had dropped sharply from 76.6 million to 70.8 million voters following the deletion of more than 5.8 million names. The EC said these deletions were based on verified discrepancies such as duplicate entries, deaths, migration, and ineligibility.

The second phase of the SIR began on December 27 and involves hearings of around 16.7 million electors whose names have been flagged for scrutiny. Of these, about 13.6 million were marked for so-called “logical discrepancies,” while 3.1 million entries reportedly lacked proper geographic or demographic mapping. The hearings are meant to give affected voters an opportunity to present documents and clarify discrepancies before a final decision is taken.

With elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly expected in about three months, the timing of the SIR has become a major flashpoint. The TMC, which is seeking a straight fourth term in power, has alleged that the exercise is being used as a political tool to tilt the electoral field, while the Election Commission maintains that it is following constitutional and statutory obligations to ensure free and fair elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal opposition in the state, has firmly backed the Election Commission and accused Mamata Banerjee of attempting to obstruct a legitimate democratic process. BJP leader and leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari wrote a letter to the chief election commissioner countering the chief minister’s claims and urging the poll body to continue the SIR “undaunted.”

In his letter, Adhikari described Banerjee’s demand to halt or slow down the exercise as an “admission of defeat.” “Her narrative of ‘anxiety and harassment’ is a TMC-orchestrated mirage, drowned out by the chorus of approval from those who reject her politics of patronage and prefer the purity of the ballot,” he wrote.

Adhikari further argued that the SIR is being deliberately misrepresented as chaotic and arbitrary. “The SIR is not, as she falsely portrays, an ‘unplanned, ill-prepared, and ad hoc’ farce, but a meticulously orchestrated national initiative aimed at purging the system of duplicate, bogus, and ineligible entries that have inflated voter lists and undermined the sanctity of our democracy,” he said.

As the political battle lines harden, all eyes are now on whether Mamata Banerjee or her government will formally approach the Supreme Court in the coming days. A legal challenge could have far-reaching implications not only for the ongoing SIR in West Bengal but also for the broader balance of power between elected governments and constitutional authorities like the Election Commission. With Assembly elections looming, the outcome of this confrontation could significantly shape the political narrative in the state.