West Bengal polls: Mamata Banerjee marches to file nomination, says will go to Supreme Court again over SIR
Times of India | 9 April 2026
KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday led a 400-metre march from her home to Alipore Survey Building, accompanied by about 4,000 Trinamool Congress supporters, and filed her nomination for Bhowanipore assembly seat with four proposers from four different communities, setting the template for the final lap of Trinamool’s election campaign.
Moments after filing her papers, Banerjee said her party would once again move Supreme Court demanding that voters who have appealed before tribunals against deletion of their names during judicial adjudication be allowed to cast their votes in this election.
“The Supreme Court had identified all voters under adjudication as genuine voters and had said their cases will be settled in the tribunal. What is the point of freezing their cases? We will go to court again and seek justice,” she said. “I am very upset that so many names have been deleted. Out of 1.2 crore people deleted, 32 lakh names were included only because I went to Supreme Court. But the remaining 58 lakh cases have not been opened at all. Some of the deletions may be genuine due to deaths or duplicate entries. But the 27 lakh voters whose cases are pending before tribunals are genuine and should be allowed to vote. What is the point of adding names later if these people aren’t able to vote now?” she asked.
Among those who signed her nomination papers were mayor Firhad Hakim’s wife Ismat, representing Muslims, ward 71 block president Bablu Singh, representing Hindus, film producer Nispal Singh, representing Sikhs, and Miraj Shah, vice-chairman of Bhowanipore Education Society, representing Jains.
Banerjee declared she has Rs 75,700 cash in hand, 9.8 grams of gold jewellery and total assets worth 15.4 lakh. Her annual income is Rs 23.2 lakh, she doesn’t own any vehicle or property and her only sources of income are royalty earned from books and bank interests. She has no criminal case pending against her.
On Tuesday morning, as Mamata Banerjee stepped out of her Harish Chatterjee Street residence at 10.35 am, clad in her trademark white sari and white chappals, she was quickly enveloped by a sea of supporters who had been waiting for hours to catch a glimpse of her.
Srabani Roy, a Kalighat resident who was present with a group of 10 women in green-and-white sarees, blew conch shells to welcome the CM. “This has been a ritual for several years now. We always come dressed in coordinated colours to accompany her when she files her nomination. We wished her luck and she blessed us. Such simple gestures inspire us to work harder to ensure the party’s victory,” she said.
On the way, Banerjee paused briefly at Bagalamukhi temple near Kalighat bridge, bowing her head in prayer, before resuming her march. The route soon turned into a festive procession with supporters showering flowers and raising ‘Mamata Banerjee zindabad’ and ‘Joy Bangla’ slogans. Among the crowd was party worker Tarak Pat-ra, whose brother-in-law’s name has been struck off the voters’ list. “Didi has assured us that she is trying to get the names restored,” he said, joining in the slogan-chanting.
Banerjee waved at supporters and occasionally stopped to shake hands with familiar faces as senior party functionaries — Firhad Hakim, his daughter Priyadarshini, Rashbehari MLA Debashis Kumar and the eight councillors of Bhowanipore constituency — walked along. Near Alipore Jail Museum, she paused again to bow be-fore a photo of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose before proceeding with folded hands toward the Survey Building.
Addressing supporters after stepping out, the CM struck an emotional note: “I live here 365 days. Everything — my birth and my work — has been here. Whatever I am is because of this place. To the people of Bhowanipore, I offer my respects — Pranam, Sat Sri Akal, Jai Jinendra, Salaam. Bless us so that not just I, but all our candidates across 294 seats can continue to serve you.”