‘Vote Theft in Assam’: Congress Flags Massive Electoral Irregularities

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Thursday accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding with the BJP government in a “dangerous conspiracy to steal votes” through alleged large-scale irregularities in the ongoing Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls in the state.

Addressing a press conference at Rajiv Bhavan today, Dhubri MP Rakibul Hussain and former Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora claimed that the revision process is being manipulated in a manner similar to what the party alleges occurred in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Karnataka.

The Congress leaders said that despite assurances from the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Assam that the SSR would follow the same procedures as the routine annual revision, several disturbing deviations have now come to light.

Rakibul Hussain alleged that Booth Level Supervisors (BLS) were kept uninformed while Booth Level Officers (BLOs) prepared the draft electoral rolls, leading to confusion and irregularities during the claims and objections process. He further claimed there had been large-scale misuse of Forms 6, 7, and 8, which are meant for inclusion, deletion, and correction of voter details.

“The Chief Minister has no faith in the people of Assam. That is why a single individual has been allowed to file objections against multiple voters, with the intent of bringing in people from outside,” Hussain said. He pointed out that Election Commission rules permit only individual objections, yet objections from one person against many voters were allegedly accepted.

He also alleged that political parties registered with the Commission were not being informed on a weekly basis about claims and objections, as mandated by rules. “No rules are being followed, and the Election Commission has chosen to remain a silent spectator,” he said, adding that reports of the Chief Minister and the BJP state president influencing election officials to delete voters’ names were “unconstitutional and unethical.”

Former MP Ripun Bora echoed the concerns, accusing the BJP government of reducing the Election Commission to a “puppet.” He said the draft electoral roll published on December 27 and the updated roll released on January 1, 2025, showed little difference, raising serious doubts about the transparency of the process.

Bora pointed out that details of newly added voters, deleted names of deceased voters, and transferred voters were not incorporated together in the draft roll. According to him, the Election Commission has stated that such information would only be reflected in the final roll. “If these details are not in the draft, how can political parties or citizens examine it and file objections?” he asked.

He warned that once the final electoral roll is published on February 10, there would be virtually no scope for corrections. “If thousands of new voters are added in each constituency at the final stage, it would be nearly impossible to even detect it,” he said, alleging that the process has been deliberately designed to facilitate arbitrary additions and deletions.

Bora also referred to reports of a video conference in which the BJP’s state president allegedly instructed party legislators and ministers to prepare lists of voters who did not vote for the BJP. He questioned the Election Commission’s silence on the matter and said that even if the reports were inaccurate, a clarification should have been issued. He added that the Congress would demand a forensic investigation into the video conference episode.

Further, Bora alleged that in several areas, BLOs were being replaced midway through the revision process because they had refused to “cooperate in serving the political interests of the ruling party.” He also claimed that pressure was being exerted to replace BLOs belonging to particular religious and community groups.

Citing examples from Guwahati, Bora said that at Dispur’s Booth No. 27, voters had been added to certain house numbers without the knowledge of the house owners, while at Booth No. 36, seven families were entirely missing from the electoral roll.

The Congress leaders announced that a joint delegation of opposition parties will submit a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer of Assam on January 9, seeking redressal of the alleged irregularities. They also said that a separate delegation would soon meet the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi to press for a thorough investigation into the matter.

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