Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee launched a blistering attack on the Centre during Monday’s Lok Sabha discussion on electoral reforms, accusing the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls of being a politically motivated exercise to delete legitimate voters rather than authenticate them. Known for his theatrical mimicry of political rivals, Banerjee imitated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s distinctive style and tone from Bihar election rallies, repeatedly echoing the phrase “infiltrators, infiltrators” that the PM had used in the past.

“You said you would throw out all infiltrators. You conducted SIR in Bihar but couldn’t find even one infiltrator,” Banerjee said, mocking the Prime Minister. He went on to blame both Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, stating that neither the Border Security Force (BSF) nor the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) had detected any foreigners despite the massive exercise. The remarks drew sharp protests from the Treasury benches, with several BJP members rising to object to the personal mimicry of the Prime Minister.

Banerjee described the nationwide SIR as “arbitrary” and alleged that its primary purpose was mass disenfranchisement. “A citizen whose name was in the 2024 voter list is suddenly told he is no longer an elector because his name was not there in 2002,” he argued, warning that large-scale deletions would undermine the very foundation of democracy. “What is the meaning of an election if voters are deleted beforehand?” he asked, claiming the process effectively allowed the Prime Minister to decide, through the Election Commission, who gets to remain a voter.

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The senior TMC leader also targeted the Commission’s use of digital applications to verify family relationships, particularly the rigid requirement of matching parents’ names on documents. “Will an app now decide who my relative is? My brother is not my relative; my wife is not my relative?” Banerjee said sarcastically. He pointed out that the Representation of the People Act does not define “relative” in such a narrow manner and accused authorities of weaponising technicalities to strike names off the rolls.

Reiterating that “nobody is above the law”, the four-time MP from Serampore in West Bengal asserted that the Supreme Court would have the final say on the legality of the ongoing revision. He stressed that electoral reforms must prioritise inclusion rather than exclusion and alleged that the current SIR was designed solely for the deletion of electors, especially from marginalised and minority communities.

The Special Intensive Revision, launched ahead of Assembly elections in several states, has faced widespread criticism from opposition parties who claim it disproportionately targets areas with high concentrations of minority and migrant voters. The Election Commission has maintained that SIR is a routine purification drive to remove duplicate, shifted, and deceased entries while ensuring only eligible Indian citizens remain registered and has rejected allegations of political bias in the process.

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