The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has firmly debunked baseless accusations from Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale, who alleged that the agency fabricated data on deactivated Aadhaar numbers in West Bengal to enable voter deletions in a supposed “vote chori” (vote theft) plot.
UIDAI swiftly countered these baseless assertions, explaining that the numbers were not pulled from its own unsegmented archives but were processed from records proactively shared by West Bengal authorities.
In a pointed clarification on X (formerly Twitter), UIDAI dismissed these claims as misleading, asserting that the deactivations stemmed directly from death records supplied by the West Bengal state government itself, not from any internal fabrication or political maneuvering.
“In July 2025, West Bengal government shared 33.4 lakh death records containing Aadhaar number from its Health & Family Welfare Department,” UIDAI stated on X.
In July 2025, West Bengal government shared 33.4 lakh death records containing Aadhaar number from its Health & Family Welfare Department.
— Aadhaar (@UIDAI) November 20, 2025
Further, the Food and Supplies Department of West Bengal Government shared approximately 15 lakh death records in August 2025.
After…
“Further, the Food and Supplies Department of West Bengal Government shared approximately 15 lakh death records in August 2025. After validation, 32.8 lakh Aadhaars have been deactivated based on the deaths reported by the Government of West Bengal,” it added.
Gokhale, known for amplifying fake news and prejudiced narratives to attack the Centre, unleashed a barrage of allegations in an X post earlier today, branding the process as a deliberate scheme to manipulate electoral rolls. He claimed UIDAI had provided the ECI with 30-32 lakh deactivated Aadhaar numbers purportedly linked to deceased individuals in West Bengal. Drawing on a 2024 UIDAI response to his inquiry and a 2017 parliamentary statement, Gokhale argued that the agency previously admitted it does not track deactivations by state or reason, questioning the sudden emergence of such specific data.
“If UIDAI doesn’t maintain state-wise or reason-wise data, how can it now claim 30-32 lakh deactivations specifically in West Bengal due to deaths?” Gokhale demanded in his post. He accused UIDAI of either deceiving Parliament in the past or inventing figures now to assist the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and ECI in orchestrating “large-scale voter deletions” disguised as routine updates during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Gokhale shared a purported February 2024 UIDAI letter, stating that around 103 lakh Aadhaar numbers were deactivated nationwide without breakdowns by state, year, or cause. He also referenced a news article from The Telegraph highlighting potential removals of over 30 lakh deceased voters from West Bengal’s rolls based on UIDAI data.
But UIDAI’s response has thoroughly exposed Gokhale’s claims, underscoring that the deactivations are fresh, verifiable actions triggered by state-provided information, not arbitrary inventions by UIDAI.
With the voter list revision undergoing in West Bengal, Gokhale’s claims are seen as a part of a deliberate attempt to undermine democratic institutions and processes and manipulate public opinion about the integrity of the Election Commission.
The Election Commission’s SIR exercise aims to remove deceased, duplicate, and relocated voters from a roll of over 7 crore, a routine step to ensure electoral integrity. But opposition figures like Gokhale have turned it into a fearmongering campaign, painting a basic cleanup as ‘disenfranchisement’ to revive their repeatedly debunked ‘vote chori’ narrative.
