West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will address rallies in three border districts as the ruling Trinamool Congress has intensified its offensive against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The rallies will be held in Malda and Murshidabad on December 3, 4 and Cooch Behar on December 9. These politically sensitive districts have sizeable minority, migrant and displaced populations.
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The chief minister’s rallies signal a deliberate attempt to reclaim the narrative ahead of 2026 elections, especially as the SIR exercise fuels unease over scrutiny of documents, identity and citizenship, reported PTI news agency.
This is the second phase of Banerjee’s anti-SIR mobilisation since the exercise began in the state last month. She had addressed a public meeting in Bongaon in the refugee-dominated Matua belt last week.
The Malda rally will take place at Gajole, while the Murshidabad event is scheduled at Beharampore stadium. The rally in Cooch Behar will be organised at the historic Rash Mela Maidan.
In Cooch Behar, an emergency meeting of the block presidents will be held on December 1, followed by a district-level preparatory session on December 2.
Ministers, MPs, MLAs, councillors and panchayat functionaries are finalising mobilisation plans for the chief minister's visit in these districts.
On Friday, a delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs led by Derek O'Brien met Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and submitted a list of 40 people, including 17 BLOs, who died allegedly due to the ongoing SIR.
Talking to the media, the ten-member delegation alleged that the EC has “blood on its hands” for the deaths due to the “completely unplanned, reckless and heartless” SIR in the state.
The Commission, however, rebutted the party’s charges and emphasised that the TMC must not interfere with the independent functioning of Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and District Election Officers (DEOs), all of whom are state government employees on deputation to election-related duties.
