"Justice Crying Behind Closed Doors": Mamata Banerjee Argues Against Voter Roll Revision in Supreme Court

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee personally argued before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, challenging the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in her state, claiming the exercise unfairly targets Bengal ahead of elections.

"Justice is crying behind closed doors," Banerjee thundered before a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, who allowed her 15 minutes to present her case after she requested five minutes.

EC Notice Issued

The bench, comprising CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice VM Pancholi, acknowledged Banerjee's plea as genuine and issued a notice to the Election Commission of India.

"Tell your officers to be a little sensible," the court told the ECI after Banerjee submitted that SIR notices were sent to prominent personalities including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, acclaimed Bengali poet Joy Goswami, and Trinamool MP Dipak Adhikari.

The next hearing is scheduled for Monday.

Six Letters Ignored, CM Claims

Banerjee accused the ECI of ignoring her repeated communications. "The problem is that in the end, we don't get justice anywhere. I have written six times to the ECI but still did not get any reply," she argued.

Allegations of Selective Targeting

The Chief Minister alleged West Bengal is being selectively targeted on the eve of elections while other states face no such scrutiny.

"In other states, domicile certificate is allowed, caste certificate is allowed. They only targeted Bengal on the eve of elections. Four states are going to elections. Then why after 24 years, what was the hurry to do this in three months?" she questioned.

Banerjee claimed the ECI is violating court orders by not accepting Aadhaar for verification and cited instances of women being deleted from rolls for using married surnames.

Deaths During SIR Exercise

The CM raised concerns about booth-level officer deaths during the exercise, claiming over 100 people died. "When harvesting season is there, when people are travelling, more than 100 people died. BLOs died. So many are hospitalised. Why not Assam?" she asked.

With folded hands, Banerjee appealed: "Please protect the people's rights, sir."