Kolkata, September 23, 2026: Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee demanded fresh Assembly elections in the state on Wednesday and called for the arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. She alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the conduct of the 2026 election had favoured the BJP. These are Banerjee’s allegations; a link between the revision and the election result has not been established.
Banerjee accused Kumar and the BJP of acting together during the election and said criminal proceedings should be initiated against him. She called for repolls in West Bengal and other states where, she alleged, elections overseen by Kumar had been affected by the SIR. Banerjee also said the INDIA bloc would continue protesting and urged the judiciary to consider the opposition’s concerns.
The BJP ended the Trinamool Congress’ 15-year rule in the May 2026 Assembly election. The Election Commission’s results show that the BJP won 207 seats and the TMC won 80 among the 293 constituencies for which results were declared. Banerjee has continued to challenge the fairness of the electoral process since that defeat.
Her latest remarks followed an Indian Express investigation reporting that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded objections at least 14 times over 10 months to decisions involving electoral rolls. The report said their concerns covered voter registration, deletion and restoration of names, and access to voter data. The Election Commission has said its final decisions, including those on the SIR, were unanimous.
The reported objections have intensified opposition scrutiny of the poll panel, but they do not establish that the Bengal result was altered. The Indian Express investigation said it found no evidence that SIR deletions determined the election outcome. Banerjee’s call for a repoll therefore remains a political demand as disputes over electoral rolls, pending appeals and the TMC’s separate internal conflict continue through legal and electoral channels.
