The Deccan Herald article accurately reports on a significant political controversy in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has launched a strong offensive against the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regarding alleged mass disenfranchisement of genuine voters. The core claim, that 'dead' voters were brought on stage, is verified by multiple credible sources. Abhishek Banerjee, TMC's national general secretary, publicly presented individuals who were alive but marked as 'dead' in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He did this at a rally in Baruipur on January 2, 2026, with three such individuals, and later on January 13, 2026, in Cooch Behar, presenting ten people. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has vehemently accused the EC and BJP of orchestrating a conspiracy to remove legitimate voters. She alleges that the EC, influenced by the BJP, used Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to unilaterally delete approximately 5.4 million names from the draft electoral rolls, often without informing the voters or providing them a chance to defend their status. She further claims that 'logical discrepancy' was an afterthought in the SIR process, intended to facilitate more deletions. The Election Commission has acknowledged errors, with three Booth Level Officers (BLOs) being show-caused for incorrectly listing alive individuals as 'dead' in the SIR list. The SIR is a nationwide exercise by the ECI aimed at ensuring accurate and up-to-date electoral rolls, planned ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections in West Bengal. This issue has become a central point of the TMC's pre-election campaign, raising concerns about the integrity of the electoral process in the state.