Trinamool Congress delegation meets EC over SIR, Abhishek Banerjee says "no concrete answer to anything"

New Delhi [India], December 31 : A Trinamool Congress delegation met the Election Commission on Wednesday and discussed about 10 issues, including the SIR being held in West Bengal, with party leader Abhishek Banerjee stating later that "there was no concrete answer to anything".
Banerjee told the media that the meeting lasted two and a half hours. He said the poll panel had not provided answers when the Trinamool Congress delegation met it last month.
He alleged that the poll panel had indulged in "selective leak" last time after meeting the party delegation and had not given a "single precise answer" to any of the issues raised.
"We discussed eight to ten issues. The meeting started at 12 noon and lasted two and a half hours. Last time, a month ago, on November 28, a delegation of 10 people from our party came here. We asked the Election Commission five questions, but we didn't receive a single precise answer to any of them," the MP said.
"That same night, the Election Commission selectively leaked information to some journalists, claiming that they had answered every question. Immediately afterwards, I tweeted that the Trinamool Congress has digital evidence and that the Election Commission did not provide a single answer to any of our questions last time... This time, except for two or three points, we didn't get any clarity on anything. When I ask them about the SIR, they shift the topic to citizenship. There was no concrete answer to anything," he added.
A five-member TMC delegation submitted a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal on December 29, demanding that the list of voters under the "logical discrepancy" category be published and that the methodology and legal authority used to create this category be disclosed.
The party had termed the Election Commission as the "B-team" of BJP.
"Under the cover of the so-called SIR exercise, the BJP's B-Team Election Commission has carried out a silent assault on democracy in Bengal, secretly deleting the names of lakhs of legitimate voters without transparency, notice, or accountability. To demand answers for this institutional misconduct, our five-member delegation once again went to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal," the party said in a post on X.
"Our position is unambiguous and non-negotiable: The entire list of voters branded under the vague and arbitrary label of 'Logical Discrepancy' must be published immediately, with clear Assembly-constituency-wise and category-wise break-ups. The criteria, methodology, and legal authority used to create this category must be placed in the public domain without delay. For senior citizens above 85 years of age and persons with disabilities, all verification, hearings, and authentication under SIR must be conducted at their homes, not through queues designed to intimidate and exclude. On these demands, our five-member delegation submitted a memorandum to the State Election Commission. Bengal will not accept a democracy run through deletions, fear, and silence," the party added.
Over 58.2 lakh names were deleted during the enumeration period of the SIR exercise in the state. The ECI had published the draft voter list for West Bengal on December 16.
The claims and objections period will continue till January 15, 2026 and the final electoral roll will be published on February 14, 2026.