TMC to raise SIR issue, related deaths in Bengal in Parliament winter session
Kolkata (PTI): The TMC will raise the SIR exercise and deaths allegedly linked to it in West Bengal during the winter session of Parliament next month, a senior leader said here.
The ruling party of the state has been accusing the Election Commission of imposing "SIR-linked inhuman pressure" on ground staff through compressed timelines and "unworkable deadlines."
The party claimed the accelerated voter-roll revision has unleashed fear, fatigue and fatalities among Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and citizens, and will question why West Bengal has been subjected to the most intensive scrutiny while several border states with similar demographic profiles have been exempted from the SIR, the leader said.
The TMC said it would seek an explanation from the Centre and the EC on the selection of states for the SIR.
The senior party MP said, "Why have Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur, all bordering countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar, been exempted entirely? Why is Assam under a lighter Special Revision? Is the real intent to challenge Bengali identity and systematically prune Bengali voters from the rolls?"
The winter session of Parliament will be conducted between December 1 and 19.
Senior TMC leaders said the voter-roll revision, launched in early November across 12 states and Union territories, has been carried out in West Bengal with "extraordinary haste," triggering panic among citizens and placing an "unprecedented burden" on Booth Level Officers (BLOs), several of whom have reportedly died while juggling teaching duties and late-night enumeration work.
The party claimed that 41 people, including four BLOs, have died since the start of the process.
Families of some of the deceased have attributed their deaths to crippling deadlines, inadequate training, and the stress of the massive exercise.
"What should normally take two to three years has been squeezed into two months just to please political masters at the Centre," a TMC MP alleged.
According to official data, the West Bengal SIR is nearing completion, with 7.64 crore forms circulated, 82 per cent digitised, and 99.8 per cent of voters covered in the door-to-door verification drive. The final electoral roll is expected to be published on February 7, 2026.
But TMC leaders said the numbers do not reveal the human toll of the exercise.
"BLOs are collapsing under pressure, common people are gripped by fear psychosis, and the EC is watching silently," another TMC parliamentarian said. "There are reports of suicides, anxiety-induced deaths and teachers fainting in the middle of duty. This cannot be passed off as routine enumeration."
The party also pointed to rising anger among schoolteachers, who form the majority of BLOs and have complained of impossible working hours, lack of training, and the absence of transport or other logistical support.
"How can you expect a teacher to finish schoolwork, visit dozens of households, upload data, and still meet daily targets?" a TMC leader asked. "This is administrative coercion by EC masquerading as electoral correction."
TMC sources said the party will demand compensation for families of deceased BLOs, immediate relaxation of deadlines, and a parliamentary discussion on what it calls a "selective and punitive" enumeration exercise.
"Human lives cannot be collateral damage in the pursuit of a voter-roll cleanup," a party leader said. "If the EC has nothing to hide, let them explain why Bengal alone has been subjected to this aggressive drive."
The TMC plans interventions in both Houses throughout the winter session, pressing for accountability from the Election Commission and the Union government.
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RBI does not target any band for rupee, allows it to find its own level: Guv Malhotra
Mumbai (PTI): Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Friday said the central bank does not target any band for the rupee in the forex market, and allows the domestic currency to find its own correct level.
The governor's statement came at a time when the rupee breached the 90-mark against the US dollar, and is hovering near that level.
"We don't target any price levels or any bands. We allow the markets to determine the prices. We believe that markets, especially in the long run, are very efficient. It's a very deep market," he said while replying to a question on rupee depreciation at a post-monetary policy press meet.
Malhotra said fluctuations in the market keep taking place, and the effort of the RBI is always to reduce any abnormal or excessive volatility.
"And that is what we will continue to endeavour," he added.
In its bi-monthly monetary policy, the RBI announced three-year USD/INR Buy Sell swaps of USD 5 billion this month.
When asked if the USD-INR swap is aimed at checking rupee depreciation, Malhotra said, "It is a liquidity measure. It is not to support the rupee".
Stressing that RBI does not target any level of rupee against the US dollar, he said the central bank allows "the rupee find its correct position, correct level".
The governor further said the country has sufficient foreign exchange reserves and the current account is manageable, and given the strong fundamentals of the economy, the country should witness good capital flows going forward.
Foreign portfolio investment (FPI) to India recorded a net outflow of USD 0.7 billion in 2025-26, so far (April-December 03), due to unabated withdrawal from the equity segment.
Flows under external commercial borrowings and non-resident deposit accounts moderated compared to the last year.
As of November 28, 2025, India's foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 686.2 billion, providing a robust import cover of more than 11 months.
The governor further said that, having reduced the policy rate (repo) by 25 basis points, the focus will now be on transmission of the rate cut to the real economy.
According to the RBI's November bulletin, the depreciation of the rupee in October was due to a stronger dollar, following the US Fed's policy announcement to lower the Federal funds rate.
Nevertheless, strong fundamentals, such as stable inflation, a resilient growth outlook for the Indian economy, a narrower current account deficit, steady services exports, robust private remittances, and robust foreign exchange reserves, have contributed to the rupee being the least volatile among emerging market and developing economies.
The rupee has performed better than the Euro, and its depreciation has been in line with that of other currencies, such as the Japanese Yen and the Korean Won (for April to November 2025-26).
The central bank has announced various measures over the last 3 years to diversify and expand the sources of foreign exchange funding, aiming to mitigate exchange rate volatility and dampen global spillovers.
The RBI bi-monthly policy in October had announced some measures to enhance the use of the rupee in international trade.
