Why West Bengal, why not Assam?': Mamata Banerjee in Supreme Court

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee addressed the Supreme Court in person on Wednesday, stating that Justice is "crying behind closed doors" while arguing her petition challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee addressed the Supreme Court in person on Wednesday, stating that Justice is "crying behind closed doors" while arguing her petition challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls.

Banerjee informed the Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant that the SIR exercise is being carried out only to the exclusion of voters and not their inclusion.

"This SIR is for deletion, not inclusion," she said, alleging that lakhs of voters had been wrongly flagged under "logical discrepancies".

Banerjee's counsel informed the court that 58 lakh voters had already been deleted and around 88 lakh voters were flagged.

Questioning the timing of the exercise, she said, "What was the hurry to do this at such a time?", alleging selective targeting of West Bengal along with other opposition (non-BJP ruled) States.

She added, "Why West Bengal, why not Assam?, stressing her argument that the ECI is only selectively targeting non-BJP ruled states.

Chief Minister Banerjee flagged another issue in the SIR process, alleging that the Election Commission of India (ECI) was "not allowing State offices to participate in the exercise". She claimed that instead, the Commission had appointed "micro-observers sitting in BJP-ruled States" and was "using AI to delete voters' names".

Countering the allegations, senior advocate Dwivedi, appearing for the ECI, said the Commission was "compelled to appoint micro-observers" due to lack of cooperation from the State government. "We have written several letters to the State government asking them to appoint BLOs and other officers," he told the court.

Dwivedi submitted that the State had provided "only about 80 officers", leaving District Level Officers to manage the process. "I am under pressure," he said, adding that "the fault lies with the State government for not giving us officers".

Taking note of all submissions, the Supreme Court issued notice to the ECI seekinga response to Banerjee's plea and said the matter would be taken up again on Monday, granting time to the Commission to examine the new grievances highlighted by the petitioners.

(With ANI inputs)