AI use for logical discrepancy not based on ground realities: SC
Times of India | 10 February 2026
Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Monday repeatedly questioned the Election Commission, saying its AI-driven software on logical discrepancies was not based on "ground realities".
Powered by AI, the software earmarked 1.4 crore Bengal voters among 6.5 crore, who have links with the 2002 SIR rolls, as voters with logical discrepancies. All were asked to attend hearings.
One such example cited by Justice Joymalya Bagchi, who was part of the three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, along with Justice NV Anjaria, was the notices issued to people who have 5 to 6 kids or those who omitted their middle names.
To the Election Commission of India (ECI), Justice Bagchi said, "You have issued notices to those who have 5 to 6 children. Yes, if 50, yes, send them a notice! The tools that you applied to the software are very restrictive tools. ‘Kumar' is a middle name in Bengali households… you have ‘Tapan Kumar Roy' and now you have sent notices when the name is ‘Tapan Roy'… Imagine ‘Suvendu Narayan Roy' was a fellow… ‘Narayan' is a middle name. He was also served a notice."
Justice Bagchi also gave the example of the age gap used to determine anomalies for the issuance of hearing notices. He stated the age gap considered by the software for anomalies assumed there was no underage marriage, "but that's not the reality".
He referred to "implausible age gaps" flagged by the ECI, which, in the case of parents and a child, were where the age difference between them was less than 15 years, and where the age difference between a voter and their grandparent was less than 40 years. Another slot of "implausible age gap" was where the age difference between parent and child in old age was more than 50 years.
"The ground reality is that with the application of software, the notices are being sent on a wider basis. You are saying 50 years is grandparents' age gap… this is how software is working… when marriage happens at 20… these are not ground realities," Justice Bagchi remarked.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing CM Mamata Banerjee, on Monday told the Supreme Court that the draft electoral list, published in Dec 2025, had 7 crore electors, out of which 6.7 crore were mapped, which means they were either named in the 2002 list or identifiable by a relative's name. Around 32 lakh were unmapped voters.
"Among the mapped ones, around 1.4 crore electors were on the logical discrepancy list... 50% of the 70 lakh are on the list due to minor mistakes," he told the court.