Oppn red flag in Assam over Special Revision: ‘Bid to exclude legit voters from electoral process’
Congress writes to Chief Election Commissioner amid fears that objections being filed by vested third parties
The DC of the North Assam district of Lakhimpur also took cognisance of these concerns and issued a notice similar to that from the Nagaon district administration. With the Special Revision of electoral rolls underway in Assam, opposition leaders have raised an alarm over what they allege is widespread filing of objections against existing voters by third parties.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Congress’s Debabrata Saikia, wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner in Delhi raising this issue. He urged that a “comprehensive post-verification review” be undertaken in assembly constituencies, including his Nazira constituency, “to identify instances of false, misleading, or incorrect reporting, including falsely recorded ‘death’ cases, and to fix accountability wherever lapses, negligence, misconduct, or procedural irregularities are found”.
He said the results of verification of objections should be examined to “ensure that no particular community or social group has been disproportionately, selectively, or indirectly targeted during the electoral roll revision process”.
He also demanded immediate “remedial directions” to “ensure that no name is finally deleted from the electoral roll without strict compliance with the principles of natural justice, including proper notice, a meaningful opportunity of hearing…”
Alleging that most electors being affected by this in his constituency Nazira are Muslim and “other indigenous people who have been residing in the area since the pre-independence period,” and claiming that there is lack of transparency by BLOs, he wrote, “This creates a strong perception that the actions of certain BLOs and local political actors may be operating in coordination to exclude legitimate voters from the electoral process… Such a situation poses a serious threat to due process, equality before law, and the credibility, neutrality, and integrity of the electoral system as a whole.”
Similar allegations have also been raised by AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam, who said that in a meeting of party representatives with the Assam CEO on Wednesday, the representatives were told that a total of over 26 lakh objections had been filed across the state, of which most are in the process of being verified.
“The large-scale objections, and large numbers of objections being filed by third parties against multiple people, show that there is an attempt to whimsically cut down the number of voters, particularly non-BJP voters, by the time of the elections,” he claimed.
Amid such concerns being raised about “bulk” and “false” objections being filed, Nagaon District Commissioner Devashish Sharma, who is also the District Election Officer, issued a public notice declaring that the public hearings pertaining to three constituencies in the district – Barhampur, Nagaon-Batadraba and Raha – “are hereby placed in abeyance, in respect of complaints received from the public, until further orders”.
Acknowledging the concerns regarding bulk and false objections, he said, “The election commission allows for anyone to file objections, and we have to verify them. There may be agents of political parties, but in many cases, it could also be overzealous individuals and those trying to settle personal scores.”
The DC of the North Assam district of Lakhimpur also took cognisance of these concerns and issued a notice similar to that from the Nagaon district administration.
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