Bihar: Gaya ji DM rebuts Pawan Khera’s charge of voter deletions, says claims false and misleading

Gaya ji (Bihar), Aug 22 The District Magistrate (DM) of Gaya ji in Bihar has rejected Congress leader Pawan Khera’s allegation that dozens of voters, particularly women, had been arbitrarily deleted from the electoral rolls in the district.

The DM said that a field inquiry has proved that the claims were not true, and misconceptions among voters have been clarified.

Khera, citing a media report, had alleged that several women in Gaya ji had testified about being disenfranchised despite furnishing valid documents under the Special Summary Revision (SSR) process.

He further claimed that these women were being asked to produce documents of their parents -- many of whom were either deceased or lived outside Bihar -- and accused the BJP of “waging an undeclared war on the women of Bihar”, while also charging the Election Commission of India (ECI) with complicity.

Hours later, the Gaya administration issued a detailed rebuttal.

According to the statement, Barachatti Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) Priyanka Kaushik and Assistant ERO Ajit Kumar conducted a field verification in village Nodia, based on video footage circulated in the media.

“The names of voters mentioned in the video were checked against the draft electoral rolls and found to be very much present,” the statement read.

Listing specific cases, the DM said in a post on X that the name of Mithilesh Kumar (father Bachchu Yadav) was found at serial No. 18, polling station 27. Similarly, the name of Babita Kumari (husband Neeraj Kumar) was found at serial No. 76, polling station 26.

The administration added that misconceptions were clarified during the inspection, and voters were informed that “ration cards have no link to voting rights”.

The DM further said that officials read out 61 names from the Absentee, Shifted and Dead (ASD) list and invited objections, but no written complaint has been received so far.

“The misinformation spread through the media report has been addressed on the ground, and voters have been assured that their names are intact in the electoral rolls,” the DM said.

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