West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of deploying artificial intelligence to erase 54 lakh names from electoral rolls, a charge that injects a volatile digital dimension into the state’s electoral contest and raises questions about safeguards in voter registration systems.Addressing party workers and the public, Banerjee warned of what she described as “digital manipulation” through algorithmic tools and fabricated videos circulating on social media. She alleged that the deletions were designed to manufacture duplicate entries while simultaneously disenfranchising legitimate voters, arguing that technology had been weaponised to undermine the franchise. The chief minister urged citizens to verify their registration status and remain alert to online misinformation that could distort democratic participation.
The allegation centres on claims that large-scale changes to voter lists occurred without adequate transparency or notice. Banerjee asserted that the purported removals disproportionately affected marginalised communities and migrant workers, groups that often face hurdles in documentation and address verification. She called for immediate public disclosure of the methodology used to update the rolls and demanded accountability from authorities overseeing electoral databases.
Under the statutory framework, the preparation and revision of electoral rolls is the responsibility of the Election Commission of India, carried out through periodic revisions, field verification, and objections-and-claims processes. The Commission has long maintained that deletions follow due procedure, including notices to affected voters and opportunities for correction. Officials have also emphasised that technological tools are intended to improve accuracy by removing duplicates and deceased entries, not to exclude eligible voters.
The chief minister’s remarks sharpen scrutiny of how data analytics and automation are being introduced into election administration. Across jurisdictions, election bodies have adopted software for deduplication, geospatial mapping, and roll management to cope with population mobility and scale. Experts note that while such systems can enhance efficiency, opaque algorithms and inadequate human oversight can amplify errors, particularly when datasets are incomplete or biased.
Political rivals rejected the allegations, describing them as unsubstantiated and politically motivated. Party representatives argued that roll revisions are routine and subject to multi-layered checks, including the involvement of booth-level officers and the availability of appeals. They contended that invoking artificial intelligence without evidence risks eroding trust in institutions and conflating administrative processes with campaign rhetoric.
Civil society groups and election-law specialists urged restraint and clarity, calling for verifiable facts to be placed in the public domain. They stressed that claims of mass disenfranchisement demand precise data: the period of revision, the categories of deletions, the geographic distribution, and the outcomes of objections filed. Transparency, they said, is essential to prevent misinformation from compounding anxieties around voting rights.
The controversy unfolds amid growing global concern over deepfakes and synthetic media in politics. Advances in generative tools have made it easier to fabricate audio-visual content that mimics public figures, prompting regulators and platforms to strengthen detection and labelling mechanisms. Banerjee’s warning about fake videos reflects these anxieties, with parties increasingly training volunteers to identify manipulated content and counter viral falsehoods.