West Bengal BJP admits harassment of voters during SIR; blames poll officials, TMC

After weeks of insisting that the Trinamool Congress was exaggerating reports of harassment during the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, the State unit of the BJP has changed its stance. It now admits that people in the State are facing harassment, but blames a section of poll officials in collusion with the ruling Trinamool for “deliberately” making mistakes and issuing notices to harass voters.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and several other BJP MLAs submitted a memorandum to Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Monday (February 2, 2026), titled, “Deliberate harassment by a section of EROS, AEROs, and BLOs of common people in collusion with Trinamool Congress and I-PAC during SIR.”

This is a departure from the BJP’s official stance that claims of harassment during the exercise were blown out of proportion by the State’s ruling Trinamool Congress. The memorandum, which seeks to initiate disciplinary proceedings against erring poll officials, comes at a time when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is visiting Delhi and sharpening her attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI).

‘Deliberate mistakes’

In the memorandum, BJP MLAs claimed that a section of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), Additional Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), and Booth Level Officers (BLOS) were individually and collectively “deliberately making mistakes or discrepancies, such as errors in the spelling of names or surnames, and issuing notices to harass voters”.

According to the BJP leaders, it has been observed in many cases that “EROs and AEROs across the State have appointed contractual employees for the scrutiny process of SIR or for issuing notices and conducting hearings, which is completely contrary to the ECI guidelines.”

The memorandum added that despite repeated requests from the ECI to the West Bengal Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary, no data entry operators have been appointed for the SIR process. During the earlier SIR in Bihar, a sufficient number of data entry operators were appointed by the State Government, it said.

It also claimed that Trinamool Congress political leaders and goons were present at SIR hearing centres, making loud political speeches through microphones, in violation of the ECI’s guidelines.

BJP discomfort

In the first phase of the SIR, 58 lakh names were removed from the State’s draft electoral roll, bringing the number of electors in the State to 7.08 crore from 7.66 crore. There were violent protests over about 1.36 crore notices issued to electors due to alleged “logical discrepancies” in their forms.

The West Bengal BJP’s discomfort with the SIR has been visible over the past few months, with the party’s State president Samik Bhattacharya making repeated statements targeting Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Mr. Bhattacharya had demanded that the CEC should make a spot inspection to review how the SIR process is being carried out in the State.

In the third week of January, BJP and Trinamool supporters clashed over the submission of Form 7 under the SIR process. The State BJP president had said the party would not allow the Assembly elections to take place in West Bengal if the party’s claims and objections related to the draft voters’ list were not honoured.