Institutions Over Intimidation: SIR as a Pillar of Electoral Integrity in West Bengal

April 2, 2026

Akshay Bansal
Member, BJPYM, NEC

In a recent hearing on the SIR exercise in West Bengal, a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant remarked that he had read an article about the exercise across the country. “Apart from West Bengal, everywhere it happened smoothly,” quoted Kant. This was projected as the so-called final arrow by Mamata Banerjee has ultimately backfired, failing in its attempt to create a Delhi vs West Bengal narrative by the supreme court of india.

But why SIR process remains friction in Bengal? It is mainly due to two reasons exclusion & inclusion error but in the case of west Bengal there is inclusion error rather than exclusion error. The study, titled ‘Demographic Reconstruction of Legitimate Voter Counts: Study from Electoral Roll Inflation in the Indian State of West Bengal,’ estimates the voter list in Bengal is inflated by at least 13.69 per cent, with 1.04 crore excess voters.

Former State Chief Electoral Officer of Bengal and Rajya Sabha MP Jawhar Sircar has questioned the credibility of the voter data, noting, “If we take the population growth of Bengal in these 20 years, the increase in the number of electors cannot be more than 6 crore. The present total voters of 7.62 crore voters is suspected”. Only political argument against the exercise was 61 lakh people were excluded and BJP want to cut bengali as to win election but what about Uttar Pradesh does this argument fit for Uttar Pradesh too? Where approximately 2.8 crore names were removed from the rolls, representing 18.7 per cent of the total electorate highest in any state also it must be noted that in some states voter numbers had also increased after the exercise.

SIR is not just an revisionist exercise but necessary “electoral correction”, linking it to concerns over illegal immigration and demographic change West Bengal remains one of the fragile estate where infiltration remains a concern recent migration is evident particularly in border districts of Murshidabad, Malda, North & South paragana where the highest rate of cases are under adjudication. Just because of a vote bank politics, the national security along the Siliguri corridor cannot be compromised. It is not an adhoc decision but well structured & legal process.

Although acknowledged some shortcomings or some administrative defect exist but it doesn’t mean that the process is faulty exercise taking in consideration large country with a shortage of the manpower and a technology transition underway. Creating panic & giving speeches like 3-4 people dying daily over legitimate exercise & threating state official who are involved in democratic exercise. As said by EC officials in supreme court in West Bengal alleged the need for deploying micro-observers was felt as the EROs were acting on orders of the ruling party. They alleged that the EROs were not deleting those electors who were ineligible and were uploading all manner of documents as proof, including fake ones shows continuing Bengal political violence legacy.

Deaths of any Booth Level Officer are undeniably tragic, and they deserve compassion and must not be converted into political weapon. Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which explicitly provides for the revision of electoral rolls and grants the Commission discretion over the manner, timing, and modalities of such revisions. It is the first time that Supreme Court has worked as the observer of the election commission of India, even the providing the judges and additional judges from the state of Jharkhand, Odisha for doing the democratic process. So far 19 tribunals and even appelete tribunal by Calcutta high court has been formed to challenge the decision Shows systematic democratic process follows.

Out of nearly 60 lakhs names under review, about 32 lakhs have already been resolved. The first list released on March 23, covered about 10 lakh cases and the second 21 lakh now recently third list is also published. As per the direction of SC now the supplementary list will be published on a regular basis. Rather than presenting empirical evidence, these statements rely on evocative, crisis-laden language designed to trigger public anxiety and suspicion towards the electoral administration. So much Ruckus about SIR shifted attention away from many core issues among these is the state’s inability to create an adequate number of new jobs for its young population, stopping migration, implementing the seventh pay commission where the centre is moving towards eighth pay commission TMC has had to answer some serious questions.

Once a leader who rose to power with the slogan of Maa, Mati & Manush( Mother, Motherland and People) shows a staggering decline with obstructionist politics and repeated accusations against constitutional institutions reflecting a troubling erosion of faith in democratic ethos. As Adam Przeworski notes “democracies rarely collapse through sudden institutional breakdown; more often, they deteriorate through the gradual, strategic erosion of trust engineered by political actors who benefit from weakening oversight mechanisms.”