Mamata Banerjee became the first serving chief minister to argue in the Supreme Court on Wednesday as she sought an intervention in the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral rolls, alleging that West Bengal was being “targeted” and its people were being “bulldozed”.The court took note of Banerjee’s petition and said genuine persons must remain on electoral rolls.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi issued notices and sought replies to the petition by February 9 from the Election Commission and the chief electoral officer of West Bengal.
The CJI asked the poll panel to instruct booth-level officers and electoral roll officers to be more sensitive while issuing notices on grounds of minor discrepancies such as mismatched spelling of names, etc.
The chief minister referred to the poll panel as “WhatsApp Commission” in an apparent reference to directions being allegedly passed by the Election Commission to electoral officials through the instant messaging app.
Banerjee, dressed in her signature white sari paired with a black scarf to resist the Capital’s winter, reached the Supreme Court premises flanked by her lawyers, including Trinamool Congress leader and senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, around 10 am.
Several lawyers and litigants jostled to enter the CJI’s courtroom to catch a glimpse of the CM making her arguments. At the outset, Banerjee sought permission to argue for five minutes. The CJI responded by saying the court would give her not five but 15 minutes to make her submission.