India, Feb. 4 -- Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday became the first sitting chief minister to personally argue her own petition in the Supreme Court, urging the court to "protect democracy" and "people's lives", as she claimed that millions of voters risk being deleted from the electoral roll over minor spelling and dialect-based discrepancies during the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) in poll-bound West Bengal.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, with justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, sought a response from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on whether notices issued on such minor discrepancies should be withdrawn, cautioned the poll body to act "carefully", and fixed the matter for further hearing ...