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Mamata Banerjee claims 54 lakh voter names were deleted in West Bengal using “BJP-devised AI tools.” With women and genuine voters allegedly hit hardest, questions are rising over transparency and fairness in the SIR process.
Mamata Banerjee alleges discrepancies in voter roll deletions
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the Election Commission (EC) of deleting nearly 54 lakh names from the draft electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) without giving affected voters a chance to defend their inclusion. Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat Nabanna, Banerjee described the process as arbitrary and deeply flawed.
Banerjee alleged that the deletions were carried out through misuse of the powers vested in Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and disproportionately impacted “genuine electors.”
According to her, many voters discovered their names missing without receiving any prior notice or explanation, effectively denying them an opportunity to contest the deletions. She claimed that the absence of transparency had created confusion and distress among voters across the state.
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The Chief Minister made serious allegations regarding the use of artificial intelligence tools, claiming the EC relied on software “devised by the BJP” while sitting in Delhi. She said these AI-driven processes flagged mismatches during the SIR exercise, leading to mass deletions.
Banerjee specifically pointed out that women who changed surnames after marriage were among the worst affected, along with voters whose personal details had legitimately changed over time.
Raising concerns over procedural changes, Banerjee said the term “logical discrepancy” was not part of the original SIR verification framework and was introduced later to justify further deletions.
She alleged that this addition was being used to expand the scope of exclusions and claimed that another one crore names could be removed before the final electoral rolls are published.
Banerjee also accused the EC of preventing Booth Level Agents (BLA-2s) appointed by political parties from attending verification hearings. According to her, this restricted representation was deliberate and weakened the safeguards meant to protect voters during the revision process.
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On Monday, Banerjee wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for the fifth time since the controversy began. In her letter, she highlighted errors stemming from AI-driven digitisation of the 2002 electoral rolls, which she said were causing widespread mismatches.
She further claimed that no proper acknowledgements were being issued for documents submitted during SIR, calling the entire exercise “fundamentally flawed.”
The Election Commission has not issued a public response to the allegations so far. Banerjee maintained that statutory procedures followed for over two decades were being ignored, forcing voters to re-establish identities already verified through earlier quasi-judicial processes.
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