TMC Raises Concerns Over 34 Lakh Aadhaar Deactivations in West Bengal – 2025

PTI, KOLKATA, NOV 13, 2025 :  The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday tore into the Election Commission and the BJP after UIDAI disclosed that around 32–34 lakh Aadhaar numbers have been deactivated in West Bengal and alleged the figures point to a "silent invisible rigging" designed to erase living voters from the rolls ahead of the assembly elections due next year.

The party claimed that the UIDAI's submission before the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, made during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), contradicted the agency's own stand that it does not maintain state-wise or year-wise Aadhaar deactivation records.

TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said: "Today, it was informed in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer that 32–34 lakh Aadhaar numbers have been deactivated by UIDAI. But the same UIDAI told Parliament that it does not store Aadhaar deactivation data state-wise or year-wise. Then how is UIDAI giving data to the CEO and Election Commission?"

"If this is how SIR functions, we will fight it in courts and on the streets. We will not allow the BJP to turn living voters in Bengal into ghost entries," Chakraborty said, referring to Bihar's recent Aadhaar-linked fiasco where several living people were shown as deceased, and they moved the Supreme Court.