On Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee submitted her nomination for the Bhabanipur Assembly seat, announcing plans to approach the Supreme Court regarding the removal of a significant number of voters from the state’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
Banerjee expressed her disappointment over the deletion of numerous names from the voter lists, noting that only 3.2 million remained. “This situation arose after I pursued a case in the Supreme Court. Initially, 5.8 million voters were removed in the first phase. I intend to seek judicial intervention again on behalf of those whose names have been erased,” she stated.
The overall voter count in West Bengal, which is preparing for elections, has decreased from 76.6 million to 67.7 million, marking a reduction of 8.9 million, or approximately 11.62 percent. This decline was confirmed following the Election Commission of India’s release of the final supplementary voter list after the adjudication process, which concluded late Monday night.
From the more than 2.7 million voters whose names were eliminated after adjudication, over 1.4 million will be ineligible to vote since the voter list for the first phase of the Assembly elections has been finalized.
Referring to Bhabanipur as her “karmabhoomi,” Banerjee remarked, “I reside here year-round. I extend my heartfelt greetings to the residents of Bhabanipur. I have submitted my nomination to contest from this constituency. I urge the people of Bengal to support AITC candidates in all 294 seats. I am confident that we will form the government.”
Banerjee’s opponent in Bhabanipur will be BJP leader and the Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, who previously defeated her in Nandigram by a margin of 1,946 votes during the last Assembly election in 2021. Subsequently, she was elected from Bhabanipur in a by-election.
At around 10:30 AM on Wednesday, Banerjee commenced her journey from her residence on Harish Chatterjee Street to the Survey Building in Alipore to file her nomination. She was accompanied by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders including Firhad Hakim, his wife Ismat Hakim, Jayprakash Majumder, Kajari Banerjee, and others.
Among those who endorsed her nomination were Ismat Hakim, Nispal Singh Rane, the husband of actress-turned-politician and TMC Rajya Sabha MP Koel Mallick, local TMC block president Bablu Singh, and Miraj Shah, a representative from the Bhabanipur Education Society.
The Assembly elections in West Bengal will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29, with the results scheduled for announcement on May 4.
