New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress on Friday accused the Election Commission of India of presiding over “massive deletions” from the voter list in West Bengal, alleging that the removals were caused by a “mysterious faulty software” used by the poll body.
In a statement, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale said that even ECI officials had now accepted that errors in software led to the deletion of legitimate voters’ names from the electoral rolls. He claimed the issue had been flagged by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for several months.
“Finally, even ECI officials accept that massive deletions in Bengal voter list happened due to a mysterious faulty software,” Gokhale said. “This has been pointed out by our leaders since months and yet Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has remained silent.”
Raising questions over the alleged software, Gokhale asked who had developed the system and why it continued to be used despite being “faulty.” “Who made this mysterious software for ECI that deletes legitimate voters? Why has ECI not stopped using this software despite knowing that it’s faulty?” he said.
The TMC MP went on to allege political interference, accusing the BJP of exerting control over the poll panel. “After failing in their attempts to manipulate the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on the ground, BJP-controlled ECI is using a software to delete voters while sitting in Delhi by bypassing election officials,” he said, calling it “dirty tricks of the highest level.”
The allegations come amid ongoing scrutiny of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, a periodic exercise conducted by the Election Commission to update voter lists by removing duplicate, shifted or deceased voters and adding new eligible electors. Political parties closely monitor the process, particularly ahead of elections, amid concerns that errors could disenfranchise voters.
The Election Commission has not issued a detailed public response to Gokhale’s allegations at the time of reporting. In the past, the ECI has maintained that revisions to electoral rolls are carried out according to established procedures and with multiple layers of verification involving booth-level officers and political party representatives.
The TMC has demanded greater transparency from the poll body and has urged the ECI to immediately halt the use of the alleged software until a full explanation is provided.
