Strong tremors were felt in Kolkata and adjoining areas on Friday after an earthquake struck Bangladesh. Moments after the seismic activity, the Bengal BJP took a sharp dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, asking whether the tremors were caused by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
In a social media post, the West Bengal unit of the BJP asked, “West Bengal just felt earthquake tremors. Mamata Banerjee, was it because of SIR?”
The BJP was apparently mocking the Trinamool supremo’s claim that the SIR process has created chaos in the state, even linking several suicides to the ongoing voter roll revision.
The West Bengal Chief Minister and the BJP have been locked in a heated exchange over the SIR exercise. On Thursday, she wrote a strongly worded letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, urging him to immediately halt the process, which she described as “chaotic, coercive and dangerous”.
Banerjee said she was “compelled to write” because the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the state had reached a “deeply alarming stage”, alleging that the drive was being carried out in an “unplanned, dangerous” manner that had “crippled the system from day one”.
The chief minister accused the Election Commission of thrusting the SIR upon officials and citizens “without basic preparedness”, highlighting “critical gaps in training”, confusion over mandatory documents and the “near-impossibility” of booth-level officers (BLOs) meeting voters “amid their livelihood schedules”.
“If this path is not corrected without delay, the consequences for the system, the officials and the citizens will be irreversible,” she cautioned, calling the moment one that demands “responsibility, humanity and decisive corrective action”.
“The manner in which this exercise is being forced upon officials and citizens is not only unplanned and chaotic, but also dangerous,” the chief minister wrote, adding that the absence of “basic preparedness, adequate planning or clear communication” had pushed the process into disarray.
The BJP, however, dismissed the allegations, claiming that the ruling TMC was “trying to halt the lawful SIR process” in the state. The party alleged that Mamata Banerjee was objecting to the special revision and resorting to theatrics because her political survival depends on “shielding” a voter base created “fraudulently”.
The Trinamool Congress claimed that at least 30 people in Bengal have died by suicide or heart attack, fearing the loss of their voting rights, including two Booth Level Officers (BLO) who allegedly took their lives due to work pressure.
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Published On:
Nov 21, 2025
