West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged on Tuesday that the 54 lakh names, which were deleted from the draft rolls during the SIR in the state, were done unilaterally and by misusing powers of electoral registration officers (EROs).

Banerjee alleged that a bulk of the deleted voters were "genuine electors", who were not allowed to defend themselves because they weren't even apprised of the grounds of deletion.

"The EC, while sitting in Delhi, used AI tools devised by the BJP to delete names. These AI software accounted for the names mismatch in SIR data. They deleted names of women who changed surnames post marriage," Banerjee alleged, while addressing a press conference at the state secretariat Nabanna.

Trinamool Congress alleges that it is trying to harm the women vote bank by using the Election Commission, instead of being able to fight it all out.

The Bengal chief minister further said, "People have been sitting for 4 to 6 hours. People are not even able to know whose names have been left out. The draft list was released the day before yesterday. It is not possible for everyone to search through so many crores of pages and see the names. They have been left out unethically without giving any reason."

Claiming that 'logical discrepancy' was not part of the original SIR verification process, and that it was "included as an afterthought to add to deletions", Banerjee said that the "BJP-EC nexus" was planning to remove another one crore names from the final rolls.

"The EC has not allowed BLA-2s to attend hearings because the BJP couldn't amass its workers to do the job," Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, said.

"Micro-observers are BJP's cronies. 84 people have died. 4 people have committed suicide. 17 people have had strokes. In total, 105 people's lives are in crisis. The BLAs were not allowed to enter during the hearing. Because, micro-observers have been stationed there. Use of micro-observers not allowed as per SIR rules, it was deployed only in Bengal," Banerjee said.

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee indicated that if the alleged interference in Bengal's electoral process through SIR continues, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is prepared to march to Delhi.

"We will surely go to Delhi. These Delhi Zamindars have blocked our funds and now want to take away our voting rights. Next fight is to teach Bangla-birodhis a lesson," Abhishek said. "Because we speak Bengali they call us Bangladeshi…then who are Suvendu or Nisith Pramanik?'

Abhishek presented 10 more people, who were allegedly declared dead in the draft electoral rolls during the SIR in West Bengal, at a rally here, and accused the Election Commission of taking away voting rights of citizens through the ongoing exercise.

He also alleged that the BJP-led Centre has not been keeping its electoral promises, and said the fight in the upcoming assembly elections is between the people of the state and the saffron party.

Calling the 10 people on the stage, the TMC national general secretary said, "All of them were born and brought up in Cooch Behar, but they were declared dead by the BJP's stooge Election Commission," Banerjee alleged.

The names of these ten people were "struck off the electoral rolls in the ongoing SIR", he said.

The BJP on Tuesday alleged that officials in two districts of West Bengal refused to accept Form 7 meant for raising objections to entries on voters' list.

Election registration officers (EROs) and AEROS in Malda and Hooghly districts are thus “blocking a lawful democratic process,” the opposition party in the state asserted in a post on X.

The party accused the state administration of shielding illegal voters.

“Six residents of English Bazar (in Malda) approached the ERO (SDO) with 1,500 objections duly submitted on Form 7, strictly in accordance with Election Commission of India provisions. The ERO deflected responsibility, claiming he was not the competent authority and directing them to the AERO (BDO),” the BJP said.

The AERO, in turn, refused to accept the forms, citing a lack of “instructions” from the District Election Office, and sent the residents back, the party alleged.

This exposed “deliberate evasion and coordinated obstruction”, the BJP said adding that “citizens following the law were pushed into a bureaucratic maze.” The party claimed a similar situation unfolded in the Chuchura Assembly constituency in Hooghly district, where the ERO declined to accept Form 7 submissions made by a BJP delegation, again citing lack of instructions.

"The Election Commission of India's directions are clear and unambiguous. This deliberate stalling is aimed at blocking lawful objections," the BJP said.

Neither the district administrations nor the ruling Trinamool Congress responded to the allegations till the filing of the report.

Mamata further alleged that an officer of the rank of commandant at Fort William, the Eastern Command headquarters of the Indian Army, was working on the SIR exercise at the behest of the BJP.

Without elucidating further details on the identity of the officer concerned, the chief minister claimed that the Army personnel was using the command base to carry out political activities in the wake of the controversial SIR of electoral rolls in the state.

"I have information that a commandant at Fort William is working on SIR to lend support to the BJP. He is sitting there and doing the work of the BJP party office. I request them with folded hands to desist from such activities," Banerjee said while addressing a press conference from the state secretariat, Nabanna.

Governor CV Ananda Bose responded by stating he will intervene in the matter after confirming what the chief minister said.

"Let me first verify for myself what she said. If this violates any constitutional propriety, I will certainly intervene," Bose said.

In an already charged political atmosphere in the state, Banerjee's comment triggered sharp political reactions from across party lines.

"Mamata Banerjee can say anything. She is a poet and a painter. She even changed the course of a cyclone that was supposed to hit Kharagpur. She thinks of herself as the President of West Bengal.

"She doesn't consider West Bengal a state within India; she thinks of Bengal as a sovereign nation and herself its president," Samik Bhattacharya, president of the BJP's Bengal unit, sarcastically said when asked to respond to Banerjee's remarks.

Calling Banerjee's allegation a "serious issue", CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim said the chief minister must pursue the truth behind this, write to the Defence Minister and prove the truth in her statement.

"This is an absolutely serious issue. We must find out the truth behind this allegation. Normally, we don't bring defense forces into this political debate. But Mamata Banerjee is not only her party's chief, she also holds the chair of the state's highest administrator. So, instead of making that allegation before the media, she should have first written to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who is her old acquaintance," Salim told PTI video.

Salim said the CM could, alternatively, also have taken the matter up through proper administrative channels by asking her chief secretary to write to the GOC-In-C of Eastern Command who maintains close operational liaison.

"Under our Constitutional scheme of things, neither the defence forces should be utilised for political purposes nor should the state administration create a debate on the performance of the forces. But the SIR is also a serious matter, and people are suffering in Bengal, as also elsewhere.

"So if this is true, then the Government of India and the President of India who is the chief of our armed forces should take it very seriously. Else, Mamata Banerjee must prove that there is some iota of truth in this allegation," Salim added.