Guwahati, Jan 7: The Assam unit of the Congress on January 6 held a protest in Guwahati against the Election Commission of India and the BJP-led state government, alleging serious irregularities in the draft electoral rolls released after the Special Revision of voter lists ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections. The demonstration was organised by the Guwahati city committee of the party, which accused the ruling establishment of attempting to influence the electoral process to retain power.
The sit-in protest was staged near the Secretariat complex, where Congress leaders and workers raised slogans alleging deliberate manipulation of the voter list. Addressing the media, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Pradyut Bhuyan claimed that the anomalies in the draft rolls were politically motivated. He alleged that the Election Commission was acting in favour of the BJP and accused Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of trying to secure another term through what he termed as “vote theft”.
During the protest, police cordoned off the Manavendra Sharma Complex, which houses a Congress office. However, demonstrators later broke through the barricades and briefly came onto the road. After continuing their protest and sloganeering for some time, the participants returned to the complex and dispersed without any further incident.
The protest comes in the backdrop of the publication of the integrated draft electoral roll on December 30, following the Special Revision exercise. According to official figures, Assam has recorded a net increase of 1.35 per cent in voters, with the total electorate now standing at 2,52,01,624. The data shows that between January 6 and December 27 last year, 7,86,841 names were added to the rolls, while 4,47,196 names were deleted.
Election officials have also identified a large number of discrepancies during the revision process, including 4,78,992 deceased voters, 5,23,680 electors who have changed their place of residence and 53,619 cases of multiple entries. The Election Commission has clarified that these names have not yet been removed and will only be acted upon after formal applications are submitted during the ongoing claims and objections period.
Reacting to the Congress allegations, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma dismissed the concerns as premature, pointing out that the roll currently under scrutiny is only a draft. He said minor issues such as duplicate names or address errors are common at this stage and are routinely corrected before the final list is published. Emphasising the scale of the exercise, Sarma urged political parties not to cast aspersions on the intent of election officials, noting that preparing an accurate voter list for over two crore electors is a massive administrative task.
The Election Commission has set February 10 as the date for publication of the final electoral roll. The claims and objections window remains open from December 27 to January 22, with special campaign drives scheduled for January 3–4 and January 10–11. Assembly elections in Assam are expected to take place in March or April.
