Electoral data deleted in security breach in West Bengal
At least 1,000 voters have been deleted from electoral rolls in a West Bengal assembly constituency following a security breach that began in September 2023.
At least 1,000 voters have been deleted from electoral rolls in a West Bengal assembly constituency following a security breach that began in September 2023, people familiar with the matter have said.
Election Commission officials confirmed the breach took place in electoral roll management where login credentials of four Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AERO) were stolen, but said the extent of the records or voters affected has not yet been verified.
“I was informed by the South 24 Parganas district magistrate that breach may be going on since September 2023, as found during the enquiry by the ERO,” said West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal.
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“In this case, the assistant system manager’s involvement has been confirmed during an inquiry, and it has been alleged that a large number of deletions have taken place,” Agarwal said. “However, the extent of deletions or additions or corrections will be known only after a detailed investigation.”
Agarwal’s office on May 15 issued an order, seen by HT, that gave some details of records affected. The assistant system manager—a government employee named Arun Gorain —stole the login credentials of AERO Swapan Kumar Halder, who is also Kakdwip’s joint block development officer.
“Gorain committed fraud and cheating by inserting his mobile number unauthorisedly in the login credential of AERO...and disposed of forms 6 [new voter addition], 7 [voter deletion], and 8 [changes in the electoral roll] by from the login [ID] of AERO by using OTP received in his mobile number,” the order read.
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Officials aware of the matter in the Commission and in the West Bengal office of the CEO said the ECI needs to conduct an audit to determine the full extent of the breach. “The motive of Gorain is not clear yet, either it is money or he is in hands-in-glove with some political parties. This will be only known once the issue will be taken up by the ECI,” one of these officials said. “Also, the role of AEROs and the ERO also needs to be investigated to ascertain how it went unnoticed for more than a year and a half.”
A senior ECI official added: “We have taken swift action, and we will be do our investigation to get to the root of it. We believe in transparency and that is why this has come out.”
