West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written a strongly worded letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.

Describing it as a “serious and substantive concern,” the chief minister wrote that “the undue haste with which the exercise is being carried out, without adequate groundwork or preparation, is fundamentally flawed. There is a complete lack of clarity and planning on the part of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and its State-level functionaries.”

The letter follows a meeting earlier this week between a Trinamool Congress delegation led by party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and the Chief Election Commissioner, during which the party warned of serious consequences if its concerns were not addressed, sharpening the standoff between the TMC and the Election Commission of India.

In her letter, Banerjee questioned both the rationale and the execution of the SIR, alleging that the process has created widespread confusion among voters and election officials.

She flagged the large number of entries marked under “logical discrepancies”, arguing that such classifications were made without adequate transparency or clear communication to the electorate.

“In the name of addressing so-called logical discrepancies such as spelling errors, age-related variations, etc.-the ECI has directed verification of documents of all such electors. In cases _where these certificates have been issued by authorities in other districts or states, verification is required to be carried out by the concerned issuing authorities,” she wrote.

“This approach appears to be intended to delay the exercise, as such inter-district or inter-state verifications will, in many cases, not be possible to Complete within the stipulated time. This is likely to result in the deletion and disenfranchisement of genuine electors,” she added.

Expressing concerns over clarity of instructions given by the ECI, the chief minister said, “Shockingly critical instructions are being issued almost on a daily basis frequently through informal channels such as Whatsapp massages and text messages,”

“Such informality and arbitrariness leave no scope for accuracy, transparency, or accountability. Any error, ambiguity or uncertainty in this process can, lead to serious discrepancies, including the potential disenfranchisement of genuine electors - an outcome that is wholly unacceptable in a constitutional democracy governed by the rule of law,” she added.

Questioning the accountability of the election commission, the chief minister wrote, “There are also grave allegations regarding the deletion of electors through the misuse of IT system and without the knowledge or approval of (EROs), who are the competent statutory authorities under the Representation of the People Act.”

“This raises serious questions as to who has authorised such actions and under whose supervision or direction these have been carried out, and who should be held fully accountable for any illegal acts carried out under its supervision or direction,” she wrote.

The Chief Minister also expressed concern over what she termed the “unusual urgency” of the exercise, pointing out that the revision was being carried out close to a politically sensitive period ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

She cautioned that any perceived arbitrariness in voter list revision could undermine public trust in the electoral process and urged the Commission to ensure that no eligible voter is disenfranchised due to procedural lapses.

The letter dated January 3 also comes a day after Abhishek Banerjee announced from a rally in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas on Friday that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will meet Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi to formally register her objections to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.

Political observers believe that the timing of the letter is carefully chosen to increase pressure on the Election Commission of India on the Specia Intensive Review that is going on in the state.

The ECI, for its part, has maintained that the SIR is a routine exercise mandated to ensure accurate and updated electoral rolls and that it is being conducted strictly as per established guidelines.