Trinamool softens stand on SIR, says will democratically protest if genuine voters are removed

With the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists across 12 States, including West Bengal, on Monday (October 27, 2025), the Trinamool Congress leadership appeared to have softened its stand over the process of sanitising the voter list.

There was no official response from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or from party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on the announcement of SIR by the ECI on Monday (October 27). Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the party would “democratically protest” any attempt to remove genuine voters from the list. Mr. Ghosh urged party supporters to keep faith in the Chief Minister and party general secretary and urged “everyone to maintain calm and not fall into the trap of the BJP”.

Also Read: ECI announces phase 2 of Special Intensive Revision in 12 States Highlights

“If there is any problem, please be assured that the Trinamool Congress will stay with people through all legal means. If there is any unfair practices or abuse of power unleashed on anybody during the SIR process, we will take all legal measures to fight it. We urge the people to not take any rash decisions and make mistakes based on any provocations by the BJP to fall into traps set by them,“ Mr. Ghosh said. Earlier, several leaders of the party, including its chairperson had said they would not allow the SIR in West Bengal. Ms. Banerjee had said the SIR was an attempt to implement National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Mass transfer of officials

Hours before the announcement, the West Bengal government transferred over 500 officials, who included about 70 IAS officers, and 14 District Magistrates.

The CPI(M) leadership also sought transparency in the whole process. CPI(M) State Secretary Md. Salim said the party would depute booth-level agents in every polling booth to ensure that names of genuine voters were not omitted during the SIR.

In a press statement, the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) said it submitted a detailed memorandum to the ECI through the CEO, West Bengal on October 16, 2025 demanding 16 modifications to the SIR process as notified for Bihar on June 24, 2025 but none of its suggestions had been considered by the poll panel.

“The WBPCC had demanded that all-party meetings be convened both at the national and State levels by the ECI before the SIR notification is issued. It is unfortunate that the ECI has not adopted a consultative approach and rather chosen to impose a defective and exclusionary process on 51 crore electors of 12 States, including 7.66 crore electors of West Bengal,” the press statement added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the move and party leaders said the exercise was essential to remove dead voters as well as “infiltrators” from Bangladesh. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari had claimed that over one crore voters would be removed from the State after the SIR was completed in the State. Meanwhile, the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Manoj Agarwal called an all-party meeting on the SIR for Tuesday (October 28).