BJP using AI to delete voter names from West Bengal electoral rolls: Mamata Banerjee
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is deleting voter names from the electoral rolls in the state with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and demanded Amit Shah’s resignation as the Indian Home Minister over the issue.
According to Kashmir Media Service, addressing a public meeting at Barjora in Bankura district, Banerjee said the BJP-led government has set a target of removing 1.5 crore names from Bengal’s voters’ list.
“Don’t believe everything you see on social media. Today there is AI. The BJP has deleted the names of 54 lakh voters with the help of AI. Duplicate names are being made to snatch your voting rights. When you will go to the polling booth, you will find out that you cannot vote as someone having the same name will cast your vote. Keep you eyes and ears open. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) means your doom,” the West Bengal CM warned.
Banerjee also demanded that Booth Level Agents (BLAs) be allowed to remain present during SIR hearing sessions, saying that they were being deliberately excluded.
“The BLAs are not allowed inside hearing centres. Instructions are being issued through the WhatsApp. If the Election Commission has guts then give us in writing. We will go to the people’s court and the court of law for justice,” she said.
She urged BLAs to remain stationed in SIR camps set up by the Trinamool Congress to provide all kind of assistance to people who have been called for the SIR hearings.
Highlighting the human cost of the process, Banerjee cited the case of an elderly man from Purulia who was reportedly called for an SIR hearing and later died by suicide due to humiliation. She also questioned the summoning of a 95-year-old woman for a hearing requiring her to climb stairs and produce proof of citizenship. “Don’t you have sympathy? If your parents were called for hearings, wouldn’t you be ashamed? How come a 95-year-old woman be summoned for a hearing that, too, in an office where you have to climb the stairs?”
“Have some shame and stop harassing people of Bengal in the name of SIR,” Banerjee said.
