2 min readNew DelhiDec 30, 2025 04:23 PM IST
First published on: Dec 30, 2025 at 03:02 PM IST
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is being conducted using artificial intelligence (AI) and dubbed it as a “huge scam”. Banerjee made the claim while speaking at a rally in Bankura ahead of the assembly elections slated to be held in 2026.
The Chief Minister also claimed that in the name of SIR, the poor and the common man are being tortured.
Banerjee also mocked the BJP for its claim to build “shonar Bangla (prosperous West Bengal)” before every election. “In every election, BJP promises to make ‘Shonar Bangla’. In all the BJP-led states, atrocities are being done on Bengali speaking people, how will they make ‘Shonar Bangla’?”
Mamata levels harassment allegations
“Around 60 people have died due to SIR. Elderly people are being called for document verification hearings,” she claimed.
“If even a single legitimate voter’s name is deleted, the TMC will gherao the office of the Election Commission in Delhi,” she said.
Banerjee said the people of the state will not tolerate such “harassment”.
“People will not allow BJP to come to power in West Bengal,” she claimed.
TMC hits back at Amit Shah
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday challenged Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s assertion that the BJP would form the next government in West Bengal with a “two-thirds majority in 2026”.
The Banerjee-led party accused him of peddling falsehoods and making baseless claims. The 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections are set to be held early next year.
Senior TMC leader and state education minister Bratya Basu told reporters that Shah’s remarks were based on hollow assertions and claimed that the BJP would not even cross the 50-seat mark in the polls.
“Shah will keep coming and going like a tourist. Such visits will serve no purpose,” Basu said on the sidelines of a programme.
“The BJP will not even cross the 50-mark in the assembly polls and suffer a humiliating defeat,” Basu claimed.
Addressing a press conference here, Shah claimed that the BJP would form the next government in the state with a “two-thirds majority in 2026”.
(With inputs from PTI)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (PTI file photo) 
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