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Mamata Banerjee’s Supreme Court Challenge to Electoral Roll Revision Explained West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is set to create constitutional history by potentially becoming the first sitting Chief Minister to personally argue her own case before the Supreme Court of India . Her petition challenges the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections , escalating an already intense institutional confrontation. At the heart of the dispute lies a fundamental constitutional question: Can electoral roll verification, in the name of purity of elections, risk mass disenfranchisement of genuine voters? Background: What Is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)? The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is an extraordinary electoral exercise undertaken by the ECI to comprehensively verify voter rolls, particularly focusing on: • Duplicate entries • Bogus voters • Ineligible inclusions • Discrepa...

Background of the Case The Election Commission of India (ECI) has informed the Supreme Court that its authority to verify a person’s citizenship during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is strictly confined to determining eligibility for voter registration and does not extend to deportation or termination of citizenship. The submissions were made before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant , along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi , while hearing a batch of petitions challenging the legality of the SIR exercise undertaken by the ECI. What Is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR)? The Special Intensive Revision is an electoral exercise conducted periodically by the ECI to: Remove names of deceased voters Delete entries of persons who have permanently migrated Correct duplicate or erroneous voter records The petitioners allege that the current SIR exercise is being used as a backdoor mechanism to determine citizenship , thereby leading to potential disen...

Defamation Case Against Delhi CM Atishi Marlena,  Arvind Kejriwal Set for Arguments on Charge In a significant development, the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi has scheduled the hearing of a defamation case against Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena , former CM Arvind Kejriwal , and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders for October 3, 2024 . The case, filed by BJP leader Rajeev Babbar in 2020, accuses the AAP leaders of making defamatory statements against the BJP, allegedly damaging the party’s reputation. Background of the Defamation Case The defamation case was initiated by Rajeev Babbar, a BJP leader from Delhi, who alleged that Arvind Kejriwal , Atishi Marlena , and other senior AAP leaders falsely accused the BJP of orchestrating the removal of 30 lakh names from the Delhi electoral rolls. These voters, Babbar contended, were primarily from the Baniya , Muslim , and Poorvanchali communities. The accusations, made during the run-up to the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, sought t...