In a major escalation of West Bengal’s voter list controversy, the Election Commission of India has summoned a high-powered Trinamool Congress delegation to Nirvachan Sadan on November 28, after Mamata Banerjee’s party went ballistic over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The invitation came directly in response to a furious letter from TMC Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien, who demanded an urgent hearing over what the party now brands “Silent Invisible Rigging” masterminded jointly by the BJP and the ECI.

Trinamool has accused the Commission of launching a targeted purge of genuine voters—especially minorities, Bengali migrants from Bangladesh, and rural poor—who form the backbone of Mamata’s vote bank ahead of the crucial 2026 Assembly polls. Party supremo Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee have been thundering from every platform that the real aim of SIR is to delete lakhs of legitimate names under the guise of cleaning the rolls, while conveniently adding thousands of “ghost” BJP supporters.

The row took a tragic turn when TMC claimed that at least 34 Booth Level Officers and ordinary citizens have died due to inhuman work pressure during door-to-door verification in scorching heat and pouring rain. Photographs of grieving families and allegations that BLOs were forced to work 18-hour shifts without food or rest have flooded social media, turning public anger against the Election Commission. Trinamool has demanded immediate suspension of the entire exercise and compensation for the families of the deceased.

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The Election Commission’s letter, while couched in polite bureaucratic language, stressed that it “always welcomes constructive dialogue” and asked TMC to submit names of five delegation members along with car details latest by November 26. Sources say the TMC team will be led by Derek O’Brien and will include fiery Lok Sabha floor leader Kalyan Banerjee and possibly Abhishek Banerjee himself, ready to present a mountain of evidence alleging systematic disenfranchisement.

As Kolkata braces for another round of street protests and Delhi prepares for a potentially explosive face-off, political circles are buzzing that the November 28 meeting could decide whether Bengal heads into 2026 with a clean voter list or a full-blown constitutional crisis. With both sides digging in, what began as a routine pre-election cleanup has now become the biggest flashpoint between Mamata Banerjee and the Election Commission since the violent 2021 polls.

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