Mamata Banerjee to meet CEC Gyanesh Kumar

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday (February 1, 2026) left for Delhi and is likely to meet Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi on Monday (February 2, 2026).

The visit of the Trinamool Congress chairperson to the headquarters of the Election Commission of India (ECI) comes amidst the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, which Ms. Banerjee and her party have opposed strongly over the past several months.

“Tomorrow, at 4 o’clock [pm], they [ECI] have given us the time. After the meeting, we will brief the press. I am going to Delhi after a long interval,” Ms. Banerjee told media persons in Kolkata before leaving for Delhi. Ms. Banerjee said that she will also meet her party MPs in Delhi. Ms. Banerjee is likely to be accompanied by her party MPs.

“My MPs are there. As the chairperson of the parliamentary committee, it is my duty to meet them as well. I will brief the media regarding how they [BJP] want to finish the federal structure in the name of SIR,” she said.

Ms. Banerjee on Sunday (February 1) said the Election Commission of India (ECI) is weaponising SIR, and the BJP should fight the Trinamool Congress politically. “They will lose in Bengal. That is why they are weaponising SIR. If they have the guts, I would appeal to them to fight democratically and politically instead of using the ECI and other agencies to win the polls,” the Chief Minister said. Ms. Banerjee said that the BJP will lose the Assembly polls in all the States. “We are ready to fight inch to inch. Bengal, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu will win. In Assam, they will lose,” she said.

The Chief Minister has written six letters to the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on the issue of SIR over the past few months. In the last letter dated January 31, Ms. Banerjee said that SIR has resulted in as many as 140 deaths and was being carried out in blatant disregard of human rights and humanitarian considerations.

“Recently, for the first time in the electoral history of India, the Election Commission of India has deployed approximately 8,100 micro observers (MOs) in West Bengal during the ongoing SIR process. These micro observers are being unilaterally engaged by the EC without adequate training or demonstrated expertise for such a specialised, sensitive and quasi-judicial exercise,” the Chief Minister said in the letter.

In the first phase of SIR, 58 lakh names were removed from the electoral rolls in the State bringing the number of electors in the state to 7.08 crore from 7.66 crore. There were violent protests over notices to electors under the category of “logical discrepancies”. About 1.36 crore such notices of logical discrepancies have been issued.