Fix errors in electoral roll, says Assam Cong’s Debabrata Saikia in letter to CEC

GUWAHATI: Leader of Opposition in the Assam assembly, Debabrata Saikia wrote to the Election Commission (EC) on Monday, citing discrepancies in the draft electoral roll released in December and demanding that the poll panel make the corrections before the final voter list for the state elections is notified.

In his letter to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Saikia said media reports and ground-level feedback indicated “unauthorised inclusion of non-Assamese speaking voters and other procedural lapses that threaten the integrity of the electoral process”.

“Specific instances have come to light where “unknown” persons have been added as voters in households without the knowledge of residents,” Saikia said in a letter to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The integrated draft electoral roll for the Special Revision was done following a house-to-house drive carried out by block-level officers in the state’s 126 assembly constituencies from November 22 to December 20. The draft list was published on December 27. People can file claims and objections until January 22. The final electoral roll will be published on February 10 ahead of state elections expected to be held in March-April 2026.

Saikia cited an example from Guwahati in Kamrup (Metropolitan) district where four non-Assamese individuals were found enrolled at two houses on Tayabulla Road, without the knowledge of the family. The discrepancy was discovered after the family checked who was registered to its address.

“Moreover, an especially alarming irregularity has been identified in my Nazira constituency, specifically the registration of voter entries against nonexistent house numbers, showing as household no. 00.’,” Saikia said, urging the election watchdog to conduct a swift and transparent investigation into all reported discrepancies and make the findings public.

In the interim, he said EC should halt the finalisation of electoral rolls until all irregularities are thoroughly verified and resolved, ensuring the removal of any unauthorised or “unknown” voter entries.

“Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and any compromise in the accuracy of electoral rolls erodes public confidence and democratic values. I trust the EC will take decisive action to uphold the sanctity of the electoral process in Assam,” Saikia said.

The Congress leader’s letter came a day after the Kamrup (Metropolitan) district authorities acknowledged discrepancies in two households in Guwahati on Sunday and said they would correct the final list.

The draft roll released on December 27 shows a total of 2,52,01,624 (25.20 million) electors, representing a 1.35% increase from the previous final roll published in January 2025.

According to officials, the SR identified 4,78,992 deceased electors, 5,23,680 electors who had shifted residence and 53,619 electors with multiple entries -- a total of 1.06 million in the three categories.

These 1.06 million names are likely to be deleted once the claims and objections period, which is underway, is over.

Unlike in other states, where special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway, SR is being conducted in Assam because the process of revising the National Register of Citizens (NRC) has not yet been completed.

Unlike SIR, the exercise underway in Assam doesn’t require physical verification of documents and the focus is on the public voluntarily filling forms for inclusion of new voters, objections to an entry or seeking corrections.