West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India, labeling its ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls as a massive "scam" allegedly conducted with the help of artificial intelligence. She issued a stark warning that her party, the Trinamool Congress, would stage a gherao (siege) of the Election Commission's office in Delhi if even one legitimate voter's name is wrongfully deleted.
Allegations of Torture and Fatalities
Addressing a public rally in Bankura district on Tuesday, the Chief Minister made serious allegations about the conduct of the SIR exercise. She claimed that approximately 60 people have died due to the process, with elderly citizens being unnecessarily summoned for document verification hearings. Banerjee asserted that the people of West Bengal were being subjected to "torture" under the guise of this electoral roll revision.
"If even a single legitimate voter's name is deleted, the TMC will gherao the office of the Election Commission in Delhi," Banerjee declared emphatically. She also used the platform to make a political statement, vowing that the people of the state would not allow the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to come to power in West Bengal.
AI Manipulation and BJP Interference Claims
The TMC supremo levelled a specific and technical accusation against the ruling party at the Centre. She alleged that the BJP has stationed its members at the Election Commission's office in Delhi to influence the SIR process. According to her, artificial intelligence tools have been used to delete a staggering 54 lakh (5.4 million) voter names, with these actions falsely being attributed to Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).
"The ERO association has sent letters saying they did not carry out this work," Banerjee stated, citing this as evidence to back her claims. She highlighted absurd errors in the process, such as removing a voter's name if a surname like 'Singh' is recorded as 'Sinha' in English. Urging citizens to be vigilant, she advised those whose names were removed to fill out Form 7 and Form 8 to get reinstated, emphasizing it as their fundamental right.
TMC Delegation to Meet Chief Election Commissioner
In a related development, the Trinamool Congress announced that a high-level party delegation will meet Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on December 31. The delegation, to be led by TMC Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee and comprising MPs from both Houses of Parliament, aims to formally raise the party's deep concerns regarding the SIR in West Bengal.
This will be the second such meeting in recent weeks; a TMC delegation had previously met the full bench of the Election Commission on November 28, where they had already flagged alleged deaths linked to the voter roll revision.
The political controversy unfolds against the backdrop of significant changes to the state's electoral landscape. On December 16, the Election Commission published West Bengal's draft electoral rolls post-SIR, which saw the deletion of over 58 lakh (5.8 million) voter names. The deletions were on grounds including death and migration, as part of redrawing voter profiles across districts and border areas ahead of the crucial 2026 assembly polls.
In a partial response to the brewing controversy, the poll panel earlier this month instructed district election officials in the state to pause hearings for voters identified as 'unmapped.' This directive, however, applies only to voters flagged as absent by the EC's central software but found present in the hard copies of the 2002 electoral rolls.
