AERO steps down over SIR's 'logical discrepancies'; TMC targets EC process
Jan 10, 2026
New Delhi [India], January 10 : The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday alleged large-scale irregularities in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, citing the resignation of an Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) in West Bengal as evidence of what it called an "institutional failure" within the Election Commission's own process.
In a post on X, the TMC wrote, "When @ECISVEEP's own officers resign, the SIR scam stands exposed! And this is no longer a political charge. This is now an indictment from within the Election Commission itself. An AERO has resigned, stating in black and white that he can no longer participate in the ongoing SIR because the process is logically flawed, administratively dishonest, and morally indefensible."
The TMC referred to the resignation letter of an AERO from the Bagnan Assembly Constituency in Uluberia, Howrah district, dated January 8, 2026. In the letter addressed to the Electoral Registration Officer, the officer stated that he could no longer continue in his role after the commencement of "Logical Discrepancies" flagged in the AERO login system.
Detailing the reasons, the officer wrote in a letter that "the Logical discrepancies appeared in the BLO apps due to sporadic errors in the conversion of the PDF of the 2002 Electoral Roll (last SIR in West Bengal) data to CSV, as admitted by the Additional Chief Electoral Officer."
The resignation letter further said that the spelling of names recorded in the 2002 electoral rolls was being treated as "sacrosanct," even though "many names were corrected through Form 8 afterwards in accordance with the rules of ECI." According to the officer, this led to widespread father-name mismatches during "Progeny Mapping."
He also pointed out that "in many cases the age and sex of the names of 2002 were flawed," which had later been corrected through due process but were not being recognised under the current SIR. In addition, the officer flagged serious data anomalies, stating, "In many cases, names of the voters appeared as 'Ya'. In India we can hardly find anybody bearing these kinds of names."
Calling the exercise unjust, the officer wrote, "As a responsible citizen, I think this kind of Logical discrepancies does not make any sense and this is a ploy to disenfranchise a large section of marginal people of the society who do not have any of the 12 (Twelve) document required by ECI to prove the veracity of their deposition through Enumeration Form."
Explaining his decision to step down, the officer said he was resigning "so that I may have the consolation that I have not betrayed my countrymen and Nation consciously," while adding that he remained willing to carry out any other duties entrusted by the Election Commission.
Echoing the officer's remarks, the TMC alleged that the SIR process was a "deliberate ploy to disenfranchise the poorest and most marginalised," and asserted that the resignation exposed "the real intent behind the exercise."
