The Congress on Thursday announced that a joint Opposition delegation from Assam will meet the state chief electoral officer (CEO) on Friday to submit a memorandum detailing “pinpointed cases” of alleged irregularities in the ongoing special revision (SR) of the electoral rolls and demand an inquiry.
Addressing the media, Congress leaders — Lok Sabha MP Rakibul Hussain and former Assam PCC president Ripun Bora — also said the Opposition would take the matter to Delhi, where a delegation would meet the chief election commissioner (CEC). The date for the Delhi visit is yet to be finalised.
The Congress and Raijor Dal had earlier flagged these concerns separately. However, Friday’s meeting with the CEO will mark the first coordinated step by the Opposition during the SR exercise, being held just ahead of the March-April Assembly polls.
On Monday, the Congress alleged the inclusion of “outsiders” and “non-existent voters” in the draft rolls in several parts of Guwahati. The draft was released by the CEO’s office on December 27, after the house-to-house verification from November 22 to December 20.
The Congress also staged a protest on Tuesday — the same day Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi accused state BJP chief Dilip Saikia of informing party leaders via a January 4 video conference that cabinet minister Ashok Singhal had been assigned the task of deleting Opposition voters in 60 constituencies. For the remaining seats, Gogoi alleged, MLAs and mandal heads were asked to submit lists of anti-BJP voters by January 12.
Bora and Hussain reiterated their demand for an inquiry and called on the ECI to release the video of Saikia’s January 4 meeting to address public concerns.
Though the Assam CEO had earlier told Opposition representatives that there
was “nothing to worry” about, the Congress leaders claimed multiple violations had emerged.
“No rules are being followed, yet the Election Commission is acting as a silent spectator. Such actions are unconstitutional and unethical,” Hussain said.
Bora said there is no significant difference between the draft electoral roll published on December 27 and the electoral roll published on January 1, 2025.
“Since details of newly added, deleted deceased voters, and transferred voters have not been included in the draft list, problems are arising while applying for corrections. When the Election Commission was questioned on this issue, it said these would only be included in the final roll. Then how is it possible to apply for corrections by examining the draft roll?” Bora questioned, alleging the commission “deliberately designed this process to either add new voters or arbitrarily delete existing voter names.”
He claimed that if 5,000 new voters are added per constituency, it will become hard to get it corrected.
Key concerns raised include:
- Booth-level officers (BLOs) allegedly replaced before preparing draft rolls, leading to confusion and irregularities.
- Large-scale misuse of Forms 6 (inclusion), 7 (objection/deletion) and 8 (correction/transfer).
- Acceptance of bulk objections filed by a single person — a violation of EC norms.
- Failure to inform political parties weekly about claims and objections, as mandated.
- Alleged pressure from the chief minister and BJP president on election officials to delete names.