A case of Al-generated EPIC card in Bengal

During the scrutiny of discrepancy, a case has come to the notice of ECI that an elector has allegedly misused AI and an Al-generated EPIC card has been created for the father of one Jannatul Molla, with AI watermark visible in the EPIC card, as seen by ET.

This card was submitted for hearing by an elector in Bhangar assembly constituency of the South 24 Parganas district, polling panel officials told ET. The SIR exercise in West Bengal is at the scrutiny and 'superchecking' phase.

The Trinamool Congress, meanwhile, described the entire SIR exercise as "unplanned" and "arbitrary", claiming that the alleged anomalies being unearthed during the scrutiny are mere aberrations.


Incidentally, the Trinamool Congress had lost the Bhangar seat in the 2021 assembly polls to a candidate from the Indian Secular Front (ISF), a minority-focused political platform in south Bengal.

The scheduled date for the final electoral roll publication is February 28. The Bengal SIR started on November 4 and the draft roll was published on December 16, shrinking the original electoral base by 5.8 million.

The EPIC was verified by the AERO and written "Found OK" in the system. The matter has been sent for reverification. ECI has red flagged the issue as "misuse of technology and a serious concern for the Electoral system", and the matter has been sent by reverification.

Father of this elector Jannatul Molla, from the Ghojermath area, has been named as Hasem Ali Molla in the enumeration form. Jannatul was called for a hearing. Jannatul, along with his passport, has submitted his own EPIC card, PAN and Aadhar card. Hasem Ali Molla alias Hasem Molya's EPIC card was also submitted.

EC found that the EPIC card of Jannatul Molla's father had AI watermark and in the EPIC card, the father has been named as Hasem Molya, which is not the name/ spelling of Hasem in any of other documents of his son Jannatul - Aadhar, PAN card or even Passport.

Hasem Ali Molla, the original name has become Hasem Molya in the EPIC card, which has been allegedly created through AI, as seen by ET. To date, as many as 3 million cases have been sent for reverification by the West Bengal CEO's office while another 2 million are still pending. Trinamool Congress described the exercise as "arbitrary."

"ECI is generalizing the situations. They are putting everybody in one basket. There might be some aberrations or some anomalies. That is not the general scenario," West Bengal senior minister and national spokesperson Sashi Panja told ET. "Right from the very beginning, they were branding it as if all documents/ all voters should be under suspicion. This has been the general outlay."

"We are aggrieved as the entire exercise is arbitrary, random and done in a very hurried manner, in a process in which the basic training was incomplete and every day the directions were changing not through official notifications and whatsapp and other means of communications."