Error-free NRC can ensure clean polls in Assam: AASU

The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has followed the Opposition political parties in raising questions about the Special Revision of the electoral rolls in the State.

The Union’s adviser, Samujjal Bhattacharya, said the lists of voters in Assam had never been error-free since the 1985 Assembly elections, held soon after the Assam Accord was signed to end a six-year agitation that sought to eject people of doubtful nationalities from the State.

“A faulty voters’ list (ahead of a by-election to the Mangaldoi Lok Sabha in 1979) triggered the Assam Agitation. However, the issue of incorrect electoral rolls has persisted,” he told journalists on the sidelines of a public event in central Assam’s Morigaon on Wednesday (January 7, 2026).

Mr. Bhattacharya said a credible and error-free voter list would be impossible unless the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was corrected and updated. “Prepared under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court, the NRC must serve as the base document for electoral rolls,” he added.

The NRC exercise has been in limbo after its complete draft was published in August 2019, omitting 19.06 lakh out of 3.3 crore applicants who sought to be enlisted. It has not been officially notified, and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Assam government has questioned its accuracy.

Pointing to reports that new voters from beyond Assam, specifically northern India, were being added to the voters’ lists during the ongoing Special Revision, Mr. Bhattacharya said the Election Commission should delete such names if anomalies were found.

“The election authorities must explain how such discrepancies are cropping up, and strict action should be taken against the officials responsible,” he said.

On Tuesday (January 6), Raijor Dal MLA alleged that the BJP was working on a plan to identify voters across the State’s 126 Assembly seats to identify those who do not vote for the BJP. He said the saffron party intended to delete about 10,000 such voters from each constituency and add new names of supporters.

Earlier, the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) accused the authorities of manipulating the voter list to ensure the BJP’s victory in the coming Assembly polls. They linked their apprehension to the Chief Minister’s confidence that the BJP and its allies would win at least 103 seats.