Assam Opposition Says BJP 'Conspired' To Omit Voters, Files Police Complaint

The Congress-led Opposition in Assam filed a police complaint on Friday, alleging vote theft and a conspiracy to delete voter names through the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of the electoral rolls in the state.

The Congress, CPI(M), Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad and the CPI(ML)L together filed the complaint at the Dispur police station. They alleged that state BJP president Dilip Saikia has specifically entrusted cabinet minister Ashok Singhal to carry out the deletion process in 60 legislative assembly constituencies (LACs). The complainants urged the police to secure the footage of the video conference involving Saikia as it "contains crucial evidence".

Jorhat MP and Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi has hit out at the BJP over the issue. He stated that voting is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution and questioned who has given any political party or leader the authority to take away this right from citizens.

Gogoi said it was a serious matter that could undermine the credibility of the electoral process. He asserted that democracy allows citizens to express their will freely and warned that attempts to intimidate voters or undermine their rights go against the very spirit of the Constitution.

In a separate memorandum submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer, the opposition parties raised similar allegations and urged the CEO to restrain the CM, the BJP state president and other unauthorised persons from interfering in the revision of the electoral rolls.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shot back at the Congress. "They are free to file a complaint. However, the Election Commission has clearly stated that the voter list has not yet been finalised or published, so where is the question of vote theft? The election process is being conducted strictly as per established procedures. They are alleging that the BJP president is giving instructions. Of course, a party president will give instructions to party workers, otherwise, what is their role? The purpose of voter list revision is precisely to verify entries, remove ineligible names, and include eligible voters who may have been left out. If no names were to be deleted or added, there would be no need for such an exercise at all. This is a routine democratic process, and every political party has the right to raise objections or file complaints. Not just the BJP, but even the Congress can do the same."

Assam has registered a 1.35 per cent increase in voters as per the draft electoral rolls, published on 30 December after the Special Revision (SR) was conducted ahead of the Assembly polls. A total of 7,86,841 additions and 4,47,196 deletions have taken place. The final voter list to be published on February 10. Assembly elections are likely to be held in March-April.