Kolkata, April 8: “At times, I feel like starting practising law again,” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday, targeting the BJP and the poll panel over large-scale name deletions from voter rolls under the SIR, while asserting the TMC would move court over the issue.
Banerjee, who has an LLB degree, argued in the Supreme Court on February 4, urging it to intervene in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to “save democracy”, alleging that West Bengal was being targeted. She was the first serving chief minister to argue in the top court.
Her Wednesday remarks at rallies in Hooghly district’s Arambagh, Balagarh and Sreerampore came a day after Election Commission data showed nearly 91 lakh voters have been deleted from the electoral rolls in West Bengal from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025 following the SIR exercise.
“You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move court again to resist the exclusion of names,” the TMC supremo said, attacking her principal challenger, the BJP, over the SIR process.
She also said, “We will fight legally to get the names included on the list. If people cannot cast their votes, what is the need to set up the tribunals?”
Banerjee also questioned why the voter list for the first phase of polls in West Bengal was finalised despite the matter being pending before the tribunals. “What is this? We will challenge it and try to understand it.”
“I respect the Supreme Court, but I am not satisfied. When the Supreme Court directed that tribunals be set up and those whose names were cancelled could appeal, how was the voter list for the first phase frozen while the tribunal process is ongoing?” she said.
“I am unable to digest this. At times, I feel like going back and start practising law. But I am unable to do that because I am in the chair of the chief minister,” she added.
Addressing a rally at Arambagh, Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to manipulate electoral rolls and offering money to woo voters. She also alleged that the Election Commission was intimidating people.
“It is working at the behest of the BJP,” she claimed.
At Balagarh, she warned people that voting for the BJP would effectively mean “giving up fish, meat, or speaking in Bengali”.
“People are not allowed to eat eggs, fish, or meat in BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The same will happen here if the BJP comes to power,” Banerjee claimed.
At the Sreerampore rally, the TMC supremo alleged the BJP was planning to divide Bengal under the garb of the delimitation of constituencies.
“The BJP has targeted Bengal. It is conspiring to divide the state again. In the name of delimitation, you (BJP) are planning to carve out another state from Bengal,” she alleged.
The chief minister claimed that more than 250 people in Bengal have died due to the SIR process.
“They are conspiring to push those people out of the country whose names have been deleted, or jail them or put them in detention camp. They are planning to have the NRC here in Bengal after winning the election. But remember that till I am here, I will not allow it,” she told the gathering.
“They are planning to prevent people from voting just like the way the CPI(M) used to do,” she said, alleging that Bengali-speaking people were tortured in BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Odisha.
The TMC supremo also alleged the BJP was influencing the media coverage of the assembly elections.
“They purchased all the media outlets, and those Godi media are telecasting incorrect reviews. That is actually the BJP’s review. It is because the owners of those media houses are being threatened and intimidated by the BJP,” she alleged. (PTI)
