Gourav Gogoi accuses Assam CM of manipulating voter list, demands machine-readable electoral rolls

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President and MP Gourav Gogoi today, November 27 visited Jorhat and addressed a press conference at the Congress Bhawan, where he levelled serious allegations against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma over the ongoing special revision of the electoral roll.

Speaking to the media, Gogoi alleged that the Chief Minister is “attempting to bring busloads and trainloads of BJP workers from other states” and include their names in the Assam voter list. “His sole purpose is to reduce the strength of the Assamese vote,” Gogoi claimed. “He wants to diminish the voting power of the people of Assam because he knows that if the genuine people of Assam vote, and if their vote truly counts, he will lose his chair and will be answerable to the people.”

The Congress leader further alleged that the ruling BJP is trying to “negate, reduce and ultimately dilute” the vote of the local population by inserting names of its party workers from outside the state. He urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take the matter seriously ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.

Gogoi also raised questions about the credibility of the Election Commission, stating that its reputation “is diminishing day by day in the eyes of the public.” He reiterated Rahul Gandhi’s demand for machine-readable voter lists, arguing that India, being a global IT hub, should not rely on manual booth-level officers to prepare voter rolls within a month when advanced software is available centrally.

“It is high time the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, provides a clear answer as to why India still does not have machine-readable voter lists,” Gogoi said. “Why is the Election Commission shying away from technology?”

The APCC President demanded that in the upcoming elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry, the ECI must implement machine-readable voter lists to prevent repeated last-minute updates and alleged fraudulent entries. He cited Rahul Gandhi’s previous statements highlighting how, once voting is conducted, it becomes extremely difficult to detect or prove false names in the roles.

Calling it a “matter of national importance,” Gogoi stressed that protecting the integrity of the vote is essential to safeguarding India’s constitutional democracy. “It is not enough to merely read the oath inside the Central Hall; one must also abide by it. And the first responsibility is to protect the integrity of the vote,” he added.

Gogoi concluded his address by strongly urging the Election Commission to adopt machine-readable voter lists for the upcoming assembly elections to ensure transparency and trust in the electoral process.