"Justice Crying...": Mamata Banerjee, In Top Court, Tells Chief Justice On SIR

A defiant Mamata Banerjee tore into the Election Commission as the Chief Minister of West Bengal entered the Chief Justice of India (CJI)'s chamber this afternoon to argue her petition challenging the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in her state.

"Justice is crying behind closed doors," she thundered in the Supreme Court, requesting five minutes' time to present her case before CJI Surya Kant. The CJI agreed and allowed her 15 minutes to speak before the bench.

Speaking at the top of her voice, she opened her arguments with accusations that the Election Commission of India (ECI) ignored her requests.

"The problem is that in the end, we don't get justice anywhere. I have written six times to the ECI but still did not get any reply," the chief minister argued, which quickly escalated to a full-blown attack on the poll body.

Read: Consulting With Parties On Impeaching Poll Body Chief Over SIR: Trinamool

The bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and VM Pancholi, acknowledged that Banerjee's plea is genuine and assured that every issue has a solution.

The court has issued a notice to the ECI and asked it to be careful while sending out SIR notices. "Tell your officers to be a little sensible," it told the EC on a written submission by Banerjee that SIR notices were sent to prominent people, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, acclaimed Bengali poet Joy Goswami, and Trinamool MP Dipak Adhikari.

The next hearing is posted for Monday.

'Bengal Being Targeted, Bulldozed'

During the hearing, Banerjee argued that the state doesn't want people to be excluded from the voter lists merely due to language issues and spelling mismatches. Citing an example, she claimed that a woman's name was deleted from the voter rolls because she used her in-laws' surname. When a woman changes her residence after marriage, the EC puts her in the logical discrepancy list, she claimed.

The ECI is violating the court's order by not accepting the Aadhaar, she further alleged, claiming that West Bengal is being selectively targeted on the eve of elections. "In other states, domicile certificate is allowed, caste certificate is allowed. They only targeted Bengal on the eve of elections. Four states are going to elections. Then, why after 24 years, what was the hurry to do this in three months?" she asked.

Read: "40,000 Voters Deleted In My Constituency": Mamata Banerjee Attacks Poll Body

On this, the court pointed out that the judgment is reserved.

The chief minister also raised the deaths of booth-level officers (BLOs) being linked to the SIR exercise and said, "When harvesting season is there, when people are travelling, more than 100 people died. BLOs died. So many are hospitalised. Why not Assam?"

Before the concluding of the hearing, Banerjee also alleged that Bengal is being "bulldozed." Theatrics were on full display, as she appealed with her hands folded before the bench, "Please protect the people's rights, sir."