Kumar Bahukhandi
Mamata Banerjee, along with a Trinamool delegation, met the Chief Election Commissioner, in New Delhi on Monday. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday February 2, 2026 walked out of a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR issue, accusing him of being “arrogant” and alleging that the poll panel had “humiliated” their delegation.
Wearing black shawls as a mark of “protest”, the TMC supremo, accompanied by party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and MP Kalyan Banerjee, and 12 members of “SIR affected families” from West Bengal, met Chief Election Commissioner Kumar and fellow ECs here, her party said.
Banerjee, who has been demanding a halt to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in her poll-bound state, later said they “boycotted” the meeting in protest, while Election Commission (EC) officials claimed she left in a huff without listening to the response of the EC top brass on the issues raised by her.
The CEC told the TMC leaders that the “rule of law will prevail” and anybody taking the law into their own hands will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the provisions of law and powers vested in the Commission, the EC officials said.
Talking to the media after coming out of the Election Commission’s headquarters here, the West Bengal CM launched a fresh tirade against the poll panel, accusing it of working as the BJP’s “dalal” (middleman).
“So many people have died, who is responsible? The EC is responsible. They are working at the behest of the BJP,” Banerjee alleged
“They behaved very badly with us, I said I am sorry we came here for justice; we did not get that, and you are lying. He is a great liar…,” she said.
“We said we will fight it on the ground. You have the power of the BJP, we have the power of the people. We boycotted the meeting and came out. They have insulted us, humiliated us… I have not seen this type of Election Commission; they are very arrogant … He talks with an attitude like he is Zamindar and we are servants,” she alleged.
However, EC officials said that the TMC leaders were given a patient hearing.
First TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee spoke, followed by Mamata Banerjee, the officials said, adding that the points raised by them were duly noted down by CEC Kumar and Election Commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
“When the CEC started to respond, the TMC leaders interjected on multiple occasions. She was agitated and left the meeting in a huff,” an official said.
The CEC explained that the “rule of law will prevail” and anybody taking the law into their own hands will be dealt with strictly in accordance with the provisions of law and powers vested in the Commission, they said.
CEC Kumar told the TMC leadership that its MLAs are openly using abusive and threatening language against the Commission and especially against the CEC.
There have been incidents of vandalism of the electoral registration officers by TMC workers and MLAs, Kumar told TMC leaders.
“No pressure, obstruction, or interference of any kind by anyone should be exerted on officers engaged in SIR work. Honorarium payable to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) should be released in a timely manner without any further delay, the CEC told the delegation,” an official said.
TMC sources said that around 100 people from families of those affected by the ongoing SIR process had been brought to Delhi by the party.
These include those who have been “declared dead”, and kin of those who lost their lives allegedly during the SIR process.
Last week, CEC Kumar had given time to Banerjee for a meeting on Monday. The TMC chief and her party have alleged irregularities in the SIR process and have even approached the apex court demanding the scrapping of the exercise.
(Source-PTI)
