A disagreement over the size of the Trinamool Congress parliamentary delegation has become the latest flashpoint between the Election Commission and the party, which has vehemently opposed the SIR ahead of next year’s Assembly polls.

In response to Trinamool Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien’s request on Sunday for an appointment for a delegation of 10 MPs, the poll panel on Tuesday granted the plea on Friday but slashed the size of the delegation by half.

The poll panel said it “…has considered the party's request and decided to give an appointment to the delegation of All India Trinamool Congress, comprising the Authorised Representative of the Party along with four other members of the party, for a meeting at 11am”.

Trinamool Lok Sabha leader and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee hit back on X, saying: "If the @ECISVEEP is genuinely transparent, why is it scared to face just 10 MPs? Hold the meeting openly. TELECAST IT LIVE and answer the five straightforward, legitimate questions that the AITC will place before you."

The poll body had placed curbs on the size of political delegations in July when it allowed a delegation of INDIA bloc members to enter its Nirvachan Sadan headquarters but stopped many of them, including Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera, from attending the meeting by restricting the attendees to two per party.

Police also placed barricades on the pavement outside the building to prevent politicians from giving TV interviews with the façade of the building in the background.

Trinamool sources said that the delegation would raise the matter of 36 deaths in Bengal, including suicides by voters and booth-level officers linked to the SIR process, which the Opposition has condemned as exclusionary and unplanned.

"We will ask the CEC if he is working for the BJP, and why an FIR should not be filed against him for these deaths," a Trinamool source said. The party has 41 MPs.