Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court against the Election Commission of India and the Bengal chief electoral officer over the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state.
Sources said the petition was filed in Delhi on Sunday, 24 hours before her scheduled meeting with chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The petition directly challenges the SIR exercise, alleging that it is being carried out in a hurried and partisan manner ahead of the Assembly elections.
The legal move sets the stage for a political and legal confrontation even before Mamata’s meeting with Kumar on Monday.
According to sources, Mamata’s petition is likely to be heard next week, possibly ahead of a case scheduled for February 5 before a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, filed earlier by the government over the same issue.
Mamata’s case will also be heard alongside petitions moved by her party’s parliamentarians, Mahua Moitra, Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen. The petitions of O’Brien and Sen are likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday.
Mamata had publicly signalled her intent to move court on January 5 while addressing a meeting at Sagar Island, South 24-Parganas. “If necessary, I will also go to the Supreme Court and plead for the people. I will speak for the people. I am a lawyer. But I will not go to court as a lawyer. I can ask permission to speak as a common citizen.... I will show what is happening at the grassroots, how people are being harassed,” she had said.
Trinamool insiders said while it is not certain whether Mamata will be allowed to plead, she will be present inside the courtroom to assist senior lawyers in her party.
Mamata has been mounting a sustained and fierce resistance to the SIR, describing it as a politically motivated move allegedly orchestrated by the BJP to influence the electoral process in Bengal.
Over the past two months, Mamata sent six letters to Kumar, flagging what she describes as serious irregularities and large-scale harassment of people during the SIR process.
Before leaving for Delhi on Sunday, Mamata told reporters at the Calcutta airport: “Tomorrow, at 4pm, they have given us time. After the meeting, we will brief the press. I am going to Delhi after a long interval. My MPs are there. As the chairperson of the parliamentary committee, it is my duty to meet them as well. I will brief the media regarding how they want to finish the federal structure in the name of the SIR.”
“They (the BJP) will lose in Bengal. That is why they are weaponising the SIR. If they have the guts, I will appeal to them to fight democratically and politically instead of using the EC and other agencies. Because of this, Haryana and Maharashtra were lost by the Opposition...,” she said.
The BJP, however, dismissed Mamata’s move as politically motivated.
Party leaders claimed that she would not be able to stall the SIR exercise in Bengal.