Mamata demands CEC Gyanesh Kumar's arrest, fresh Bengal Assembly polls with pre-SIR voter list

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Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. File | Photo Credit: ANI

Raising allegations of vote theft in the Assembly elections in West Bengal and other States, former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday (September 23, 2026) called for the arrest of Chief Election Commissioner of India Gyanesh Kumar.

“Today, the entire country is in turmoil over Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, and my first demand is that he should be arrested and criminal proceedings should be initiated against him,” Ms. Banerjee said, addressing a virtual press conference.

She also called for the “return” of elections that she claimed were “stolen”, saying that Opposition parties are united in the fight against the Election Commission (EC). “Re-election must be held in West Bengal with the old voter list,” Ms. Banerjee said.

Her remarks came in the wake of a report by The Indian Express that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had purportedly red-flagged multiple issues during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in multiple States.

Ms. Banerjee said there would be a nationwide protest against the Chief Election Commissioner, and that leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc would soon meet over the issue.

“All parties, including regional parties and INDIA alliance parties, are together in this battle.... This is no longer merely about impeachment; criminal action is required,” the leader of the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress said. She also said that her party was the first to raise these issues seven to eight months before the election.

Ms. Banerjee demanded that action be taken not only against the Chief Election Commissioner, but also against those in the government and the EC who are responsible for the issues. She claimed that her party’s symbol was taken away because she had protested against the EC’s actions.

Diamond Harbour MP and general secretary of the party, Abhishek Banerjee, called for a court-monitored investigation against the Chief Election Commissioner. “The CEC must be removed immediately, and a court-monitored investigation ordered. Disenfranchising lakhs of voters to allegedly benefit one political party strikes at the very foundation of our democracy. Those responsible must be held accountable,” Mr. Banerjee said.

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Both Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee pointed out that they had raised questions about EC official Seema Khanna in December 2025. Mr. Banerjee had, at the time, questioned her role in the EC’s technology systems and claimed that she was involved in managing the EC application.

He said that during the West Bengal Assembly elections, all parties of the INDIA bloc had written to the Chief Justice of India and other Supreme Court judges, raising serious concerns, but claimed that those allegations were neither examined nor given the scrutiny they deserved. Raising questions on institutional impartiality, Mr.