On Infiltrators In Voters' List Charge, Trinamool MP Mimics PM Modi, Jabs Centre

Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee, notorious for mimicking fellow politicians, today mimicked Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a discussion on electoral reforms in the Lok Sabha. 

"In Bihar, you said a lot. Infiltrators, infiltrators. You said you will throw out all infiltrators. Modiji said we did SIR in Bihar to throw out infiltrators. They could not find one infiltrator in Bihar. You have failed to discharge your duties. BSF could not detect foreigners, CISF could not detect them. The fault is on the part of the home minister and the prime minister," the Trinamool MP said, mimicking PM Modi's Bihar speech. 

देखिए जब TMC सांसद कल्याण बनर्जी ने संसद में दिखाया रौद्र रूप#TMC #KalyanBanerjee #Parliament pic.twitter.com/23bELk5gy1

— NDTV India (@ndtvindia) December 9, 2025

The ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls undertaken by the Election Commission only aims to "delete" electors, not authenticate them, Kalyan Banerjee claimed, calling the exercise arbitrary.

"Why should an elector, whose name was there in 2024 (voter list), be told that he is not an elector because his name was not there in 2002?" he said, adding deletion of voters would undermine the democratic process.

"What is the point of an election if you delete voters," the Trinamool MP questioned, adding, "Now, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi decides through the Election Commission (EC) who will be a voter." 

Insisting that "nobody is above the law", Banerjee said the Supreme Court would have the final word on the legality of the EC's actions.

The MP also criticised the poll authority's approach on delimitation and the use of digital applications to verify family relationships in voter lists.

He argued that the law does not define 'relative' in the rigid manner being applied.

"Unless parents' names are there, they will not be treated as relatives. Will an app decide who will be my relative? My brother is not my relative, my wife is not my relative?" he asked, calling the exercise arbitrary.

The purpose of the system should be inclusion, but "SIR is only meant to delete electors", the four-time MP from Serampore in West Bengal said.