Congress stages protest demanding SIR not be conducted in Bengal

Kolkata: Congress workers on Sunday staged a protest here demanding that a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal not be conducted.

An SIR is being conducted in neighbouring Bihar, where assembly elections are due later this year. Assembly polls are likely to be held in West Bengal in mid-2026.

"The main issue is illegal immigration from Bangladesh," Congress leader Asutosh Chatterjee, who participated in the demonstration in south Kolkata's Bhawanipur area, said.

He demanded that immediate steps be taken to fence every inch of the international border between India and Bangladesh in West Bengal.

"Our national leadership has opposed the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, and we also oppose any plan to hold the same in West Bengal," he told reporters.

The Congress workers raised slogans against the SIR.

Chatterjee alleged that the Election Commission was working at the behest of the BJP.

The Congress leader also questioned how Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari could arrive at a figure of 1.25 crore illegal immigrants staying in the state at present.

Adhikari, a senior BJP leader, had claimed that 1.25 crore illegal immigrants have been added to the state's electoral rolls and vowed to weed them out through an SIR.