SIR row: Mamata Banerjee claims names of people belonging to 'specific communities' deleted from voter rolls

NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused authorities of selectively removing names from the state’s voter rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise ahead of the forthcoming assembly elections.Addressing a rally in Chakdaha in Nadia district, Mamata said the TMC would support individuals whose names were excluded from the electoral register after the latest revision process. According to the Election Commission, nearly 91 lakh voters have been deleted from the rolls in West Bengal as part of the post‑SIR update, news agency PTI reported. The CM claimed a large number of names had been reinstated after her interventions in the Supreme Court. “Following her intervention in the Supreme Court, around 32 lakh names out of nearly 60 lakh cases under ‘adjudication’ had been restored,” she said, indicating that nearly half of the disputed entries were put back on the rolls following legal action.The chief minister further alleged that “names were being removed from official records by targeting specific communities,” suggesting that the deletions were not random but aimed at particular groups. The West Bengal assembly polls are scheduled in two phases, with voting on April 23 and April 29, and counting of votes set for May 4.