Opposition parties in Assam on Friday stepped up the heat against the ruling BJP and the Election Commission over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of the special revision (SR) of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state, including attempt to delete names of anti-BJP voters.

A delegation comprising of senior leaders of eight Opposition parties — including the Congress, CPM, CPIML, AJP and Raijor Dal — first lodged a complaint with the Dispur police station here, seeking action against the alleged plan of the Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia for deletion of names of anti-BJP voters.

The complaint referred to the January 7 claim made by an Opposition MLA that Saikia had purportedly instructed party MLAs “to take necessary steps for deletion of names in 60 legislative Assembly constituencies (LACs) and also entrusted minister Ashok Singhal in a Zoom meeting held on January 4, 2026”.

The complaint did not name the Opposition MLA, but it was Raijor Dal president and Sivasagar MLA, Akhil Gogoi, who had gone live on Facebook with ruling BJP’s alleged attempt to delete names of anti-BJP voters.

“This is the evil design to delete the 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. This is nothing but a larger conspiracy to delete the names of large numbers of genuine voters from the electoral rolls,” the complaint said, seeking penal action against those involved to “save” democracy.

This is the first joint move of the Opposition against alleged irregularities in the SR process.

Former Assam Congress president Ripun Bora said: “Today, all Opposition parties have come together to file an FIR at Dispur police station against BJP state president Dilip Saikia for violating the laws of the Election Commission and the Representation of the People Act. We have also submitted a memorandum containing five demands to the Chief Electoral Officer of Assam.”

From the police station, the Opposition delegation went to the office of the state chief electoral officer (CEO) and submitted a memorandum listing the irregularities and five demands for a for “free, fair and transparent Special Revision” which started on November 22.

The draft electoral rolls was published on December 27 and these alleged irregularities have cropped up during the claims and objections phase currently under way.

The five-page joint memorandum to the CEO, while flagging Akhil Gogoi’s January 7 claim, also pointed out “how large number of BLOs and BLO supervisors appointed by the competent authority in many places like Bajaji Golakganj, Sree Bhumi etc. were removed and replaced all on a sudden during the peak time of house-to-house visit by targeting the BLOs/BLO supervisors of a particular religious community.”

This shows the malafide intention of the officials under pressure from the ruling party, the memorandum alleged.

CPM state secretary, Suprakash Talukdar, had flagged the BLO issue in a representation to the CEO on December 30, and claimed these instructions were “specifically issued” for 115 polling booths in Bajali district where the officially appointed “BLOs are Muslims”.

Reacting to Friday’s developments, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said: “Very good. They should file it (complaint). When EC is in the process (of conducting the SR) and no voter list has been published so far, where is vote chori (theft)?”

Sarma also said the state BJP was within its right to issue instruction to the BLAs so that names of ineligible voters get deleted and eligible voters get included. “This is the whole process. Otherwise why the voter list is being revised?… That is the reason why the exercise is on. Every party should file (complaint). Congress should also file…”

The memorandum also alleged the EC, an “independent constitutional authority” is “keeping mum” when the Assam chief minister and state BJP president and others “are continuously making statements for deletion of names from the voter lists more particularly belonging to a community thereby influencing and pressurizing the engaged officials in the process of Special Revision”.

The Opposition has demanded of the CEO to:

 Restrain Assam chief minister, state BJP resident and other “unauthorised” persons from interfering in the SR process through their public statements and other activities

 Enquire into the Opposition MLA’s claim regarding instructions by the BJP president for deletion of names in 60 LACs and necessary action in this regard

 Issue necessary directions to the all DEOs, EROs and AEROs to summarily reject bulk objections “without” calling the persons for hearing and without “harassing” them

 Issue necessary directions to follow the Clause 11.3.5 of the Manual on Electoral Rolls, 2023 by the Election Commission for free, fair and transparent Special Revision.

 Issue necessary directions to all ERO, DERO etc. to discharge their duties in compliance of the Manual of ECI, “not under pressure to serve the interest of the ruling party”.