6 min readApr 14, 2026 02:17 PM IST
TMC minister Shashi Panja was one of the 60 lakh-odd people whose names were put on the adjudication list by the Election Commission in the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll in West Bengal. Panja, the three-term MLA from Shyampukur, is contesting again after her name was included in the voter roll following the adjudication process. Tanusree Bose speaks with the TMC leader as she campaigns. Excerpts
With over 45 per cent of over 60 lakh voters’ names deleted from West Bengal’s electoral roll how do you see the SIR exercise along with the adjudication process?
“The process of trying to weed out actual legal citizens is very unfortunate. During campaigning, I came across complaints of harassment. It is surprising that people who have been voters for years, participating in all the elections have their names deleted. So the SIR issue is a very big problem, and it will have an impact on the voting choice of the people.
“The adjudication process was conducted only in West Bengal and over 60 lakh names were put on the list… This was not required because there were very simple issues, like changes in the surnames of women after their marriage, spelling errors that are very understandable and normal. They were put in the logical discrepancy category. When we go through the list of the adjudicated names in my constituency, we see that out of the 2,759 names under adjudication, almost 2,081 names have been deleted. There have been massive deletions in this and every stage… This is very concerning and unnerving– a common sentiment that people carry.”
Your name was in the adjudication list
“I was put in the list of logical discrepancies, though I was mapped with the 2002 list, and I have evidence to prove it… But yes, I was called for adjudication, which was again a kind of serious concern for my voters who were worried for their MLA as I was declared a candidate from my party. My name got included in the voters’ list in the second supplementary list.
If the BJP is so confident that it can form the government, then why did they resort to using a weapon like SIR… to cut down the voters’ population and use a stunted voters’ list to try to win Bengal? If the BJP is so confident of winning, then it should try to win through the full voters’ list. On one hand, the BJP is deleting the legal voters’ names, and on the other hand, it is trying to add new voters through Form 6 from outside the state, which we have caught red-handed.”
What is your opinion about the Election Commission’s role?
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“There may be a moral code of conduct in place, but this is a presidential regime and a diktat the EC is following. That is what we are opposing. They are transferring officers as if they are incompetent, but then posting them as observers in other states. So, then they are competent enough to be observers. It is a desperate attempt to overhaul the entire system and in defiance of a politically elected government…”
It is an all-out narrative where all the institutions in the country have been made fragile by the BJP. Using the CBI, ED, NIA and Income Tax right before the elections is something the people of Bengal have got used to now.”
How do you see the LPG crisis impacting the election?
“The rising price of the LPG cylinder is a huge burden on any ordinary citizen. Not only are you getting a gas cylinder maybe after 25 to 30 days, but the increased cost of cylinders is also a huge burden on the citizen, and there is no respite from all this. This will certainly have an impact.”
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched several women-centric schemes. How will this help?
“These are initiatives of financial empowerment. These hugely popular schemes cut across all political lines. They are above any politics, religion, language, or caste. There was no bias. The SIR process is attacking women voters because Didi (Mamata Banerjee) has empowered women politically, socially, and economically. That is why the BJP has adopted the strategy to attack that votebank, and that is why there are deletion of women voters from the electoral roll. They have practically changed the male-female ratio of this state… If they (BJP) are proclaiming to start Annapurna Bhandar here, then why not begin the scheme in the BJP-ruled states and show it as an example? Then only the people of Bengal will believe that BJP actually means.”
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Compared to 2021, the BJP has changed its strategy this time. Do you think it will affect the TMC votebank?
“Basically, the BJP changes its strategy not in an organic way. So when they say Joy Ma Kali, we know it is all for votes. It is not their inherent devotion to Ma Kali. Those who chanted Jai Shri Ram for years are now chanting Joy Ma Kali. Those who would humiliate Bengal and the Bengali language are now attempting to speak the language when they come to the state and address the people in Bengali. The BJP leaders have said that Bengali is the language of the Bangladeshis. Then why are you even trying to seek Bengali votes? Bengali migrant workers were beaten up for speaking in Bengali. So basically, they are contradicting themselves, and that is why their strategy may change, but it is very synthetic and shallow, and they are caught in their own trap.”
