Mamata Banerjee Demands Bengal Repoll Over SIR Row

Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday sharpened her attack on Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, seeking his arrest and a fresh Bengal poll using the old voter list after a report in The Indian Express set off a broader political backlash.

Banerjee said the report backed concerns the Trinamool Congress had been raising for months about the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, of electoral rolls. She also said Opposition parties were united in wanting Kumar out and that INDIA bloc partners would meet soon, adding that leaders including Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi had also addressed the issue.

“The only topic being discussed across India is whether Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will be arrested. We were the first party to raise this issue. Seven to eight months before the election, we had already raised concerns about the SIR. If you remember, the SIR had started in 2007 to allegedly take away people’s right to vote by force and defeat us in the election,” Banerjee said in remarks shared on Facebook.

Reacting to the report, she said: “This is such a scandalous story. We had never seen this in our lives. This election commission must be arrested. He has no moral authority to continue, and BJP must see that they cannot destroy our constitution. They cannot destroy democracy,” she said.

Banerjee said BJP-linked people had seeped into the election setup. “They cannot depute their own EROs in the name of BJP IT Team,” she said. “What we said earlier, now it is being exposed,” she said. She also accused Kumar of using the police for improper ends and pressed for a Bengal repoll on the old voter list, saying protests would spread across India while he stayed in office. She called it “another fight for freedom” against what she described as a compromised CEC and the BJP, and said the report showed they had “looted” the Bengal Assembly polls. Calling the matter a major scandal, she said the CEC should himself seek action against him if he had any honour.

Report Sparks Row

The row widened after the report. Sandhu and Joshi raised objections at least 14 times over the previous 10 months to decisions and orders issued in the Election Commission’s name without their knowledge, with four objections reportedly coming on the same day.

Those objections covered voter registration and deletion, changes to statutory Form 6 and control of the voter database. The two Election Commissioners also raised concerns over the gradual centralisation of electoral-roll database access in Delhi.

The SIR exercise began in Bihar in June 2025 and has since been rolled out across 30 states and Union Territories, the report said. A separate report also said Sandhu and Joshi objected to changes in Form 6—the application used by new voters—including a declaration on whether the applicant or their parents or grandparents appeared in an earlier SIR roll. Sandhu’s own name also figured among electors whose SIR forms carried discrepancies.

EC Rejects Rupture

The Election Commission pushed back. The poll panel stated that all three Election Commissioners had approved its decisions and rejected the suggestion that the objections amounted to an internal rupture.

It stated that official orders, decisions and administrative directions had full legal sanction, and that differences of view and observations were a normal part of institutional deliberation. The EC also stated that the suggestions made by the two Commissioners were intended to further improve electoral processes.

Opposition Broadens Attack

Opposition parties escalated the attack. Former Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat said the Form 6 changes were “absolutely wrong and illegal”. Former CEC S Y Quraishi asked whether polls could be held on rolls drawn up through a revision process that was legally flawed, according to PTI.

Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP, RSS and Election Commission of organising “vote chori”. “Vote chori is a crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our Constitution,” Rahul said. “The BJP, RSS and EC who organised it have committed an act of treason. Justice will be served,” he said.

Kharge said 73 Opposition Rajya Sabha MPs had moved a Notice of Motion on April 24, 2026, to remove Kumar and asked if the Rajya Sabha Chairman would now take it up. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that if Kumar knew about alleged rigging and allowed it, it would amount to “treachery to the nation” and “an act of treason”. Jairam Ramesh alleged that Kumar had worked as a “hatchet man” for Amit Shah and had the backing of the Prime Minister and Home Minister.

Akhilesh Yadav said interference with the poll panel amounted to “trampling” democracy and questioned whose interests the Election Commission was serving. John Brittas called the EC “a one-man autocracy” under Kumar and cited the 14 objections, saying they dealt with alleged “unauthorised and illegal” additions and deletions, restorations and changes to Form 6. Derek O’Brien said more than 60 Rajya Sabha MPs had earlier moved a motion seeking Kumar’s removal.

Mahua Moitra said, “Gyanesh Kumar is the original anti-national. I agree.” Kapil Sibal called for Kumar’s immediate suspension, an FIR into the allegations, a pause in finalising the voter list and Supreme Court scrutiny of fresh elections. Abhishek Singhvi also sought Kumar’s resignation, saying there was no doubt that he should no longer remain in office.