Guwahati: The Assam unit of the Congress on Tuesday staged a protest against the Election Commission and the BJP government over alleged irregularities found in the draft electoral rolls, published after a Special Revision (SR) of the voter lists.
Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging “serious irregularities” in the draft electoral rolls.
The senior Congress leader demanded the halt of the finalisation of the electoral rolls until “all irregularities are thoroughly verified and resolved” to ensure the removal of any unauthorised or “unknown” voter entries.
He alleged that specific instances have come to light where “unknown” persons have been added as voters in households without the knowledge of residents.
Assam has registered a 1.35% increase in voters as per the integrated draft electoral roll for the state, published on December 30 after Special Revision was conducted ahead of the Assembly elections.
The Guwahati city committee of Assam Congress organised a sit-in demonstration near the Secretariat complex here.
“The irregularities in the voter list are being done to help the BJP return to power in Assam. The ECI is working for the BJP only. The vote thieves must step down from power. We condemn CM Himanta Biswa Sarma for attempting to return to power through vote theft,” Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) General Secretary Pradyut Bhuyan.
Responding to the protest, the Chief Minister said the list in question was only a draft and that minor errors are common at this stage. He expressed confidence that there would be no mistakes in the final electoral roll, explaining that draft versions often contain issues such as overlapping names or neighbours being listed at the same address, which are corrected later.
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The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on February 10.
The draft roll reflected a total of 2,52,01,624 electors, representing a 1.35% increase from the previous final roll published in January 2025.
