Congress flags ‘serious irregularities’ in Assam draft electoral rolls, seeks halt to finalisation; CM dismisses allegations

Congress MLA and Leader of Opposition in the Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar alleging “serious irregularities” in the draft electoral rolls published after a Special Revision (SR) ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, and demanded that the finalisation of the rolls be halted until all discrepancies are verified and resolved.

In his letter, Saikia expressed concern over what he described as unauthorised and “unknown” voter entries, citing media reports and ground-level feedback that, according to him, point to procedural lapses threatening the integrity of the electoral process. He alleged that non-Assamese speaking individuals had been included in the rolls without due verification and that, in some cases, voters had been added to households without the knowledge of the residents.

The Congress leader cited specific instances, including the enrolment of four non-Assamese individuals at House Nos. 44 and 15 on Tayabulla Road in Guwahati without the family’s awareness, as well as voter entries against a non-existent Household No. 00 in the Nazira constituency. Such practices, Saikia claimed, often go unnoticed and could allow “unknown” voters to cast ballots, thereby breaching procedural norms and compromising the verifiability and credibility of the electoral rolls.

Sounding a note of caution, Saikia said these alleged violations pose a grave threat to democratic values and to the constitutional rights and socio-cultural heritage of the people of Assam. He further linked the issue to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding vote manipulation, claiming the discrepancies exposed a broader systemic problem.

Saikia also pointed out that more than 10 lakh names have reportedly been removed from the draft rolls for various reasons, but argued that the emergence of fresh discrepancies indicates that the credibility of the entire revision exercise has been compromised. Emphasising the importance of data verification, he said the alleged malpractices violate Clause 6 of the Assam Accord and disregard Supreme Court directives to uphold constitutional safeguards.

In his appeal to the poll panel, Saikia urged the ECI to conduct a swift and transparent investigation into all reported discrepancies and make its findings public. He called for the finalisation of the electoral rolls to be put on hold until all irregularities are thoroughly examined and unauthorised entries removed. He also sought the implementation of a uniform addressing system and stronger verification protocols to prevent such issues in the future.

Reacting to the Opposition’s allegations, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that established procedures exist for raising objections and making corrections. He stated that anyone with genuine concerns can submit Forms 6, 7 and 8 to seek additions, deletions or corrections in the electoral rolls. “Instead of crying foul in the media, the opposition should follow set procedures if they have any genuine concerns,” Sarma said.

According to the Election Commission, Assam has recorded a 1.35 per cent increase in voters, with the integrated draft electoral roll published on December 30 reflecting a total of 2,52,01,624 electors. Between January 6 and December 27 last year, there were 7,86,841 additions and 4,47,196 deletions. During the SR process, 4,78,992 deceased electors and 5,23,680 shifted voters were identified, along with 53,619 cases of multiple entries.

The Commission clarified that these names have not yet been deleted and will be processed only after formal applications are received during the ongoing claims and objections period, which runs from December 27 to January 22. Special campaign dates have been fixed for January 3–4 and January 10–11, while the final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on February 10.