West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee speaks during a sit-in dharna on the fourth day of a protest against alleged arbitrary deletions from the post-SIR electoral rolls, in Kolkata, on March 9, 2026.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Accusing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of threatening officials of West Bengal during a meeting in Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday (March 9, 2026) said he was behaving like a ‘”superman” and “super God”.
Ms. Banerjee, who has been sitting on a demonstration at Esplanade in Kolkata against the alleged exclusion of voters’ names during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, claimed that Mr. Kumar warned officials that action would be taken against then even after the Assembly polls in May.
“Today I heard that officers of West Bengal were threatened. It is good to have courage, but not false bravado. Will you remain in your chair after May? First decide that before threatening officials and the people of West Bengal,” she said.
During the meeting with officials. Mr. Kumar reportedly said that any lapse in maintaining law and order ahead of the elections would not be tolerated, and strict action would follow if officials failed to discharge their responsibilities properly.
From the dharna mancha, the Trinamool Congress chairperson also challenged the BJP and said that in the interest of free and fair polls, the saffron party must ensure that those on the adjudication list are allowed to vote. About 60 lakh electors are under adjudication following the publication of the final electoral rolls.
Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister asked party members to “catch” BJP workers and file FIRs against them for allegedly distributing pamphlets near the protest site.
“I am warning everyone here at the dharna. The BJP is using their agency outside this area to distribute posters and leaflets. Catch them and hand them over to the police. They can come and listen to us, but they do not have the right to distribute leaflets at another political party’s event,” she said.
Ms. Banerjee has been on a sit-in demonstration since March 6, and the stage has turned into a gathering point for Trinamool Congress leaders, some of whom have used the platform to launch sharp attacks against political opponents.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who addressed the gathering on Sunday, targeted those not supporting the ruling party. “Whoever is not standing with the Trinamool right now is not a (true) Bengali and should not be staying in Bengal,” Ms. Moitra said.
Her remarks drew sharp criticism from the BJP. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said no one needed a “Bengali certificate” from people like Ms. Moitra.
Two days ago, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee alleged that Election Commission officials, including the Chief Election Commissioner, had mistreated Ms. Banerjee when she went to meet the officials in Delhi in February.
“They were pointing fingers at Mamata Banerjee while speaking. How dare they do that? If you were not the Chief Election Commissioner, I would have cut your finger and thrown it away,” Mr. Banerjee had said.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress general secretary and party’s second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee used the protest platform to call for a social boycott of the BJP, saying that merely not voting for the party would nt be enough and people should boycott it.
Published – March 09, 2026 10:51 pm IST
