Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale alleged that the ECI was “collaborating with the Modi government’s UIDAI for the chori vote”. File | Photo credit: The Hindu
Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale on Thursday (Nov 20, 2025) questioned how the UIDAI shared a list of “deactivated” Aadhaar numbers from West Bengal with the Election Commission of India, saying he had earlier claimed that such lists were not maintained.
In a post on X, Mr Gokhale, a Rajya Sabha MP from the Trinamool Congress, said the ECI was “collaborating with the Modi government’s UIDAI for the chori vote”.
“A few days ago it was reported that UIDAI (which issues Aadhaar) shared 30-32 lakh deactivated Aadhaar numbers with ECI. UIDAI claims these Aadhaar numbers belong to dead people,” Mr Gokhale said.
“So, here’s the scam… Last year, UIDAI sent me a letter regarding deactivated Aadhaar. The letter said, ‘UIDAI does not keep details of the status and reasons for deactivated Aadhaar numbers,'” Mr. Gokhale said.
He shared UIDAI’s reply dated 26th February 2024 in which they stated that the state wise data is not maintained. The reply also said that 103 million Aadhaar cards had been deactivated by then, including 82 million of those who had died.
“In other words, UIDAI told me in writing that it only maintains a general list of deactivated Aadhaars. It does not know in which states these Aadhaars were issued and what was the reason for deactivation,” he said.
He added that UIDAI had also said the same on the floor of Parliament.
“In that case, how does UIDAI claim that there are 30-32 lakh deactivated Aadhaars in West Bengal specifically, when it does not store state data?” he said.
“How does the UIDAI know that 30-32 lakh Aadhaars in Bengal have been deactivated due to the death of an Aadhaar holder when it also does not store sensible data? This is another brazen example of ECI colluding with the BJP to carry out a large-scale voter wipe,” he said.
“Modi government’s UIDAI needs to clarify… Did they lie in parliament or are they now lying just to help ECI and BJP with chori vote under the guise of SIR?” he said.
Around 34 lakh Aadhaar card holders in West Bengal have been found to be “dead” since the identity card was introduced in January 2009, UIDAI officials informed the Election Commission of India earlier this week.
The UIDAI authorities also told the ECI that about 13 lakh people in the state never possessed Aadhaar cards but have since died.
The information was shared during a meeting between Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) officials and state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Kumar Agarwal, amid the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) enumeration of electoral rolls in Kolkata.
The meeting followed an ECI directive asking all state CEOs to coordinate with Aadhaar authorities to verify voter details and identify discrepancies.
UIDAI’s reply to Gokhale
Responding in X to Gokhale’s tweet, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said death records with Aadhaar numbers were shared by West Bengal’s health and family welfare department as well as the food and supplies department.
It claimed that in July 2025, the Bengal government’s Health and Family Welfare Department had shared 33.4 million death records with Aadhaar numbers, and the UIDAI in its tweet also added that the Food and Supplies Department had also shared the death records of 15 million people.
The UIDAI claimed that 32.8 lakh Aadhaars were deactivated based on the deaths reported by the West Bengal government.
VERY important: How ECI works with UIDAI Modi Govt for chori vote
A few days ago, it was reported that UIDAI (which issues Aadhaar) had shared 30-32 lakh ‘deactivated’ Aadhaar numbers with ECI. UIDAI claims that these Aadhaar numbers belong to dead people.
Now,… pic.twitter.com/idVpcSFhdV
— Saket Gokhale MP (@SaketGokhale) November 20, 2025
Published – 20 Nov 2025 18:25 IST
