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Assam Oppn asks EC, police to probe BJP’s ‘evil plan’ to delete voters’ names
The Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) filed a complaint at Dispur police station in Guwahati
Guwahati: Opposition parties in Assam filed complaints with the Election Commission (EC) and the police on Friday, accusing the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of attempting to delete voters’ names during the Special Revision (SR) of the electoral roll.
The Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) filed a complaint at the Dispur police station in Guwahati.
“The president of Assam BJP instructed the party MLAs to take necessary steps for deletion of names in 60 assembly constituencies and also entrusted minister Ashok Singhal in a Zoom meet held on January 4,” the complaint, which HT has seen, read.
“This is the evil design to delete names of supporters of opposition parties from the electoral rolls. The video conference footage involving state BJP president Dilip Saikia should be secured immediately and preserved as it contains crucial evidence,” it added.
Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi said, “The BJP president is seen clearly saying in the video conference that names of voters who don’t support the BJP should be deleted from the electoral rolls. Who is he to take away the democratic and constitutional rights of voters? This is a conspiracy and there should be a proper probe. I am surprised why the EC is silent on this.”
Reacting to the allegations, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday that there was no question of ‘vote chori’ (theft of votes) as the SR process undertaken by the EC is still ongoing and the final rolls are not yet out.
“EC is revising voters list in Assam and like all parties BJP has also instructed its booth-level agents to use Form 6 to include new names, Form 7 to seek deletion of names and to use Form 8 to correct names in the draft rolls,” Sarma said in Guwahati.
The Raijor Dal (RD) also filed a separate complaint with the EC, accusing the BJP state chief of trying to sabotage the SR process.
In a letter addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, RD president Akhil Gogoi said the BJP was trying to violate provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, by misusing official machinery and depriving citizens of their right to franchise.
The party demanded a high-level, independent probe, seizure of digital records, and a thorough audit of all Form 7 (objection to inclusion) applications filed in the last three months across all constituencies in Assam.
Saikia is yet to respond to the complaint, though he reportedly earlier said the RD president was making baseless allegations.
SR was held due to the revision of the National Register of Citizens, which is incomplete, in Assam, unlike the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in other states. Assam is due to go to the polls early next year.
The draft roll released on December 27 shows a total of 2,52,01,624 (25.20 million) electors, representing a 1.35% increase from the previous final roll published in January 2025.
According to officials, the SR identified 4,78,992 deceased electors, 5,23,680 electors who had shifted residence and 53,619 electors with multiple entries — a total of 1.06 million in the three categories.
These 1.06 million names are likely to be deleted once the claims and objections period, which is currently underway, is over, officials said last week. Filing of claims and objections began on December 27 and will continue till January 22. The final electoral rolls will be published on February 1.
