'Over a dozen died fearing West Bengal SIR': Mamata Banerjee slams EC, targets Amit Shah

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, during an administrative meeting in North Bengal on Monday, hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party with strong words, saying, “You can cut my throat, but don’t cut the name of a single genuine voter.” Mamata also termed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) as 'super emergency' and said that the Election Commission of India(ECI) should stop the process.

“You have kept officials busy intentionally so that they can’t work for three months; this is a super emergency," said Mamata, who spoke in the backdrop of election officials being busy with election work and unable to carry out their function effectively, hampering the working of the state government.

“I will stand by this, SIR should be stopped," added Mamata, who also said that SIR is a direct attempt to malign voters, and the EC should not take away the rights of people to vote. West Bengal goes to polls in the first half of 2026, and the SIR is being conducted in 12 states and Union territories, including poll-bound states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.

The West Bengal chief minister also questioned why no condolence message has been issued by the EC, despite people dying due to fear of SIR. TMC says there have been 17 deaths across the state in two weeks due to fears of SIR.

 

Banerjee lashed out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, questioning what happened to infiltrators in Bihar, where the BJP is in power. “As a home minister first, you should resign. Internal security, border, CRPF, BSF are your responsibility," said Mamata.

The TMC has been vocal against SIR, calling it a backdoor National Register of Citizens (NRC) orchestrated by the BJP. The SIR process began on November 4, and on the same day, Mamata and her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, had hit the streets and took out a protest rally against SIR. Abhishek is also about to take the fight all the way to Delhi.

India