West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has once again written to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging that errors arising from AI-driven digitisation of the 2002 electoral rolls are causing widespread hardship to genuine voters during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state.

In her fifth letter since the SIR process began, Banerjee claimed that the use of artificial intelligence tools to digitise older voter lists led to serious inaccuracies in electors’ personal details. According to her, these errors have resulted in large-scale data mismatches, with many genuine voters being wrongly flagged as having “logical discrepancies”.

The chief minister accused the Election Commission of disregarding statutory processes that had been followed over the past two decades. She said voters were now being forced to re-establish their identity despite corrections having been made earlier through quasi-judicial hearings.

Calling the approach arbitrary and illogical, Banerjee alleged that it went against the constitutional spirit by effectively disowning the commission’s own past actions and mechanisms. She further claimed that voters submitting documents during the SIR exercise were not being given proper acknowledgements, terming the procedure “fundamentally flawed”.

Raising concerns over the nature of hearings, Banerjee said the SIR process had become largely mechanical and overly dependent on technical data, lacking sensitivity, human judgment and compassion. She argued that such an approach undermines democratic values and the constitutional framework.

Highlighting the human impact of the exercise, the chief minister claimed that the revision process had already seen 77 deaths, four suicide attempts and 17 cases of hospitalisation. She attributed these incidents to fear, intimidation and excessive workload caused by what she described as an unplanned exercise by the Election Commission.

Banerjee also criticised the treatment of several eminent citizens, alleging that they were subjected to harassment during the process. She further expressed concern over the handling of cases involving women voters, particularly those who had changed their surnames after marriage or shifted to their matrimonial homes.

According to her, women electors were being questioned and summoned to prove their identity, reflecting a lack of social sensitivity and amounting to an insult to women and genuine voters. She questioned whether a constitutional authority should treat half of the electorate in such a manner.

Urging immediate corrective steps, Banerjee called on the Election Commission to address the issues arising from the SIR exercise to end what she described as harassment and agony for both citizens and officials, and to safeguard democratic rights.

A delegation from the Communist Party of China (CPC), led by Sun Haiyan, Vice Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee (IDCPC), visited the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters in Delhi on Monday.

During the visit, the Chinese delegation held discussions with a BJP team headed by party general secretary Arun Singh. The talks focused on ways to advance inter-party communication and engagement between the BJP and the CPC.

Sharing details of the meeting, BJP foreign affairs department in-charge Vijay Chauthaiwale said the interaction involved an in-depth exchange on strengthening party-to-party dialogue. He confirmed the visit in a post on social media, stating that the CPC delegation was received at the BJP head office as part of ongoing inter-party interactions.

The Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, was also present during the meeting, accompanying the CPC delegation.

According to Chauthaiwale, the visit was led by Sun Haiyan in her capacity as Vice Minister of the IDCPC, underscoring the importance attached to party-level exchanges between the two sides.

With elections to major civic bodies approaching, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday asserted that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) would continue to be led by a Marathi leader, rejecting opposition claims that the interests of the “Marathi manush” were under threat.

Addressing the political narrative around Marathi identity, Fadnavis said that it was not the Marathi community whose existence was at risk, but certain political forces attempting to create fear ahead of the polls. He stressed that Maharashtra belongs to all Marathi people and not to any single political group.

“I want to reiterate that only a Marathi person will be at the helm of affairs in the BMC. Only Marathi will lead,” the chief minister said, pushing back against allegations of marginalisation of the Marathi community.

Language policy row and cabinet decision

Responding to criticism over the language policy debate, Fadnavis said the recommendation to teach Hindi and English in schools was approved during the tenure of former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. He clarified that the present government had merely constituted a committee to examine the implementation of that earlier cabinet decision.

According to Fadnavis, the report recommending the inclusion of Hindi and English was submitted in September 2021 and received cabinet approval in January 2022, with the decision being reaffirmed later. “We have only formed a committee to study the implementation of that decision, yet unnecessary controversy was created,” he said.

Opposition sharpens attack

Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray accused the state government of damaging Mumbai over the last three years and claimed that the work carried out by the undivided Shiv Sena over 25 years was being undone.

The political rhetoric intensified further after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray called for Marathi unity, warning that Maharashtra’s language, land and identity were under threat. Addressing party workers, he said any attempt to impose Hindi in the state would be opposed and described the upcoming BMC polls as a decisive election for the Marathi community.

The exchanges come ahead of elections to 29 municipal corporations across Maharashtra, including the BMC, Pune Municipal Corporation and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. Polling is scheduled for January 15, with counting to take place on January 16.