New Delhi, Oct. 1 -- Former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission, alleging tampering of the electoral roll, over-centralisation of the electoral process and lack of transparency in counting.

Addressing a press conference here, they alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) had resulted in legitimate voters being deleted from electoral rolls or being marked as having "logical discrepancies". Citing figures from several West Bengal districts, including East Burdwan, West Burdwan, Paschim Medinipur and Hooghly, Mamata Banerjee questioned changes in voter numbers and their possible impact on the Assembly election results.

She demanded a booth-wise and polling-station-wise examination of the electoral rolls, while questioning the use of software and artificial intelligence in the revision process.

"The whole election process was decentralised before. Now it is centralised," she alleged.

Mamata also questioned provisions in the 2023 law granting legal protection to the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners for acts performed in the discharge of official duties. She sought greater clarity on CCTV footage from polling and counting centres and the timing of postal ballot counting.

Abhishek alleged that in around 150 Assembly constituencies, the number of voters marked for "logical discrepancy" exceeded the winning margin. Referring to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, he said, "Gyanesh Kumar ji has gifted these 150 seats to the Bharatiya Janata Party."

He demanded the release of six hours of CCTV footage, from 3 pm to 9 pm, from counting centres. He also alleged that election material, including around 4,000 ballot units, 4,000 control units and 4,000 VVPAT machines, had been destroyed, and sought their preservation for possible legal proceedings.

Abhishek further alleged that software developed by Election Commission official Seema Khanna, along with AI, had resulted in around seven lakh voters being marked as having "logical discrepancies".

The Mamata faction Trinamool Congress leaders said the issue was ultimately about protecting voting rights.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.