Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee accused the Election Commission of India of violating rules and Supreme Court directions during the ongoing SIR in West Bengal. He raised questions on the weak role and transparency of ERO.
West Bengal: Abhishek Banerjee has made a big claim regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list going on in West Bengal. He alleged that the Election Commission of India is in triple violation of statutory provisions, Supreme Court directions and its own orders in the process.
Banerjee, a senior Trinamool Congress leader and national general secretary, said that through this process, the Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AERO) may get the power to arbitrarily remove the names of voters, which is against the law. He says that this can affect the democratic process.
Issue raised on social media
Abhishek Banerjee raised this issue by posting on social media platform X. He claimed that the Election Registration Officers i.e. ERO on the ECINet portal are not able to properly monitor the work of the Assistant Election Registration Officers.
According to him, this situation is against the provisions of Section 13B and 13C of the Representation of the People Act. It is clear in these sections that the responsibility of preparing and revising the voter list rests with the ERO, while the AEROs only assist them.
Citing Supreme Court orders
Banerjee said that this process is also contrary to the orders of the Supreme Court of February 9 and February 20. It was made clear in these orders that the final decision to include or remove names in the voter list should be taken by ERO only.
He also said that claims falling under the category of logical inconsistency or undefined should be settled through a quasi-judicial process. They allege that this process is not being followed in the current system.
Questions on the Commission’s own orders also
Abhishek Banerjee also mentioned the Election Commission’s order number 23/2025-ERS issued on 24 June 2025. In this order it was said that the ERO of each assembly constituency will ensure that no eligible citizen is left out of the list and no ineligible person is included in the list.
Banerjee says the current SIR process is against the spirit of this order. He described this as a triple violation and said that this could give AERO the opportunity to remove the name in an arbitrary and illegal manner.
Controversy over West Bengal Voter List
Revision of electoral rolls has always been a politically sensitive issue in West Bengal. The purpose of the SIR process is to update the list, remove incorrect entries and add new eligible voters. But this time questions are being raised by the opposition parties regarding transparency.
Trinamool Congress says that if the process of removal of names is not done in a transparent and legal manner, it may affect the voting rights of thousands of eligible citizens.
question of democratic rights
Voter list is the foundation of any democracy. If the name of an eligible citizen is removed from the list, he may be deprived of his right to vote. For this reason, Banerjee has called this issue serious and has sought answers from the Commission.
He said that the Election Commission should ensure that every decision is taken under legal process and the final authority remains with ERO. He has demanded transparency and accountability.
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