Bengal voter portal chaos: Abhishek Banerjee ‘under adjudication’, Suvendu ‘deleted’

Kolkata: The Election Commission of India (EC) is investigating a technical glitch that briefly displayed lakhs of voters in West Bengal as “under adjudication” on its portal.

The issue appeared on Tuesday night after voters checking their details with EPIC numbers noticed incorrect statuses, even for entries already included in the final electoral rolls published on 28 February.

The glitch occurred shortly after the release of the first supplementary voter list on Monday night. An EC official explained that the error, likely related to server or backend integration issues, was rectified within approximately two hours. “At one point, the system erroneously reflected that all electors in the state were under adjudication. This was not the case, and it was purely a display error,” the official said, adding that the technical teams acted swiftly to resolve the problem.

The temporary glitch caused widespread confusion. Reports indicated that several voters’ previously confirmed entries were flagged incorrectly.

Notably, Trinamool Congress (TMC) sources said Abhishek Banerjee’s name appeared as “under adjudication,” while Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s status showed as “deleted.”

TMC MP Mahua Moitra criticised the episode, saying it created panic and anxiety among voters. She questioned the reliability of taxpayer-funded election software and urged the EC to implement concrete steps to prevent recurring errors.

While the EC maintained that the glitch was temporary and purely technical, the incident has reignited political tensions in West Bengal, with opposition parties raising concerns over the integrity of the state’s election-related digital infrastructure.