Former West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Saturday threw her weight behind a widening Opposition push for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, saying she would support any party that fights for a public cause without regard to political identity. Speaking at a public meeting in Serampore in Hooghly district, she framed the issue as one that transcends party lines and said the Opposition would stand together to defend free and fair elections.
"Whoever fights for this (SIR/voter rights) cause, we will not see any party or colour, we will see the issue, if that is for the people, we will support them," Ms. Banerjee said, using the rally stage to sharpen her attack on the Election Commission leadership and to underline the possibility of a wider anti-BJP Opposition alignment. Her comments came at a time when the INDIA bloc is preparing for a meeting in New Delhi on September 30, a gathering she said is already in motion.
According to Ms. Banerjee, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary M.A. Baby had written to her seeking broader Opposition unity over what he described as a serious issue concerning the Chief Election Commissioner. She said she immediately agreed to the proposal. "Mr. Baby wrote to me. He said that we think this is a big issue. Let's sit together... I immediately said, 'Yes, I agree with you. Let's sit together for a discussion," she said.
Ms. Banerjee added that after speaking with Mr. Baby, she also spoke to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and that the parties were preparing for a meeting in the national capital next week. She suggested that the gathering could draw in several regional parties as well, broadening the coalition beyond the core INDIA bloc. The message from her speech was clear: on the question of voter rights and the integrity of the electoral process, she is willing to work with rivals if the cause is common.
The Trinamool Congress leader escalated her criticism further by describing the situation as a national storm. "There is a storm in the country, there is a storm in Delhi. To save our democracy, they will be washed away in this storm," she said, adding that the country had united against what she described as the CEC's conduct. She also argued that accountability should not stop with Mr. Kumar alone, saying that those behind him must also be brought to justice.
Ms. Banerjee has been targeting the Chief Election Commissioner since the special intensive revision, or SIR, exercise began in West Bengal in 2025. She has repeatedly accused Mr. Kumar of presiding over the deletion of names from the voter rolls and has used the Assembly election campaign to intensify her criticism. At one point, she referred to him as "Vanish Kumar," a pointed nickname that reflected her allegation that thousands of voters were being made to disappear from the electoral list. "Vanish Kumar must go. Our movement will continue until he resigns," she said.
The latest remarks suggest that the issue has become a rare point of convergence for the Trinamool Congress, the CPI(M) and the Congress, despite their deep political rivalries in West Bengal and beyond. Concerns over the SIR process, voter rights and demands for accountability from the Election Commission have helped create a shared platform, especially as reports circulate that the two other Election Commissioners are not fully aligned with the CEC.
For the Opposition, the coming meeting in New Delhi will test whether anger over the Election Commission can be converted into a coordinated political strategy. For Ms. Banerjee, it is also an opportunity to position herself as a defender of democratic rights while keeping pressure on an institution she has accused of enabling voter disenfranchisement. Her message from Serampore was unmistakable: on what she sees as a fight for democracy, she is ready to stand with anyone who joins the battle.