Cong accuses BJP of manipulating voter roll in Assam; to approach ECI today

Guwahati, Jan 9 The Special Revision of the electoral roll in Assam has become a bone of contention between the BJP and the Congress party, with opposition leaders accusing the ruling party of using the Election Commission to take benefits in the next Assembly polls.

A senior Congress leader said on Friday that the state government has been trying to wipe out the names of voters who are not the traditional vote bank of the BJP, and this act is a threat to democracy, which will have serious implications in the free and fair election process.

The Congress party will submit a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer in Assam against the special revision of electoral rolls.

Dhubri Lok Sabha MP Rakibul Hussain has been very critical of the BJP, and he has accused the Election Commission (EC) of being reduced to a "puppet" of the ruling dispensation.

Hussain has alleged that despite assurances from the Chief Electoral Officer of Assam that the Special Revision of voter rolls would be conducted like a routine annual exercise, the situation on the ground was entirely different. He claimed that Booth Level Supervisors were kept uninformed during the preparation of draft electoral rolls, resulting in confusion and irregularities during the claims and objections process.

He further alleged large-scale misuse of Forms 6, 7 and 8, and accused the Election Commission of violating its own norms by permitting a single individual to file objections against multiple voters.

“Rules allow only individual objections, but one person has been used to object to many voters. This raises serious questions,” Hussain said.

Targeting Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Hussain alleged that objections were being filed with the intent of deleting genuine voters while facilitating the inclusion of people from outside the state.

He also claimed that political parties were not being provided weekly updates on claims and objections, as mandated by Election Commission guidelines.

Former MP Ripun Bora accused the BJP of turning the Election Commission into a “puppet” and said draft electoral rolls published in late December and early January showed negligible differences, making scrutiny difficult.

He alleged that details of newly added voters, deleted names and transferred voters were not reflected in the draft rolls, defeating the purpose of public objections.

Bora also raised concerns over reports of an alleged online meeting in which the BJP’s Assam president reportedly asked party leaders to identify voters not supporting the BJP, questioning why the Election Commission had not clarified the issue.

He further alleged that Booth Level Officers were being replaced mid-process due to political pressure and that irregularities had been reported from several polling booths, including in Dispur.

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