West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, urging him to immediately halt the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, and warned that it could cause "mass disenfranchisement" and "irreparable damage" to India’s democratic foundations. ADVERTISEMENT“The SIR process is deeply compromised and strikes at the basic structural framework of our democracy and the spirit of the Constitution,” the chief minister claimed. “If allowed to continue in its present form, the SIR will cause irreparable damage, mass disenfranchisement of voters and assault democratic foundations,” Banerjee said in her letter to CEC. The chief minister urged the Election Commission to carry out immediate corrective measures, failing which, she said, the “arbitrary and unplanned exercise must be halted". Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

Source: The Telegraph January 04, 2026 14:18 UTC