Assam Opposition files police complaint alleging voter roll manipulation by BJP

Guwahati, Jan 9: Opposition parties in Assam on Friday filed a police complaint at the Dispur Police Station alleging a conspiracy by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to manipulate electoral rolls ahead of the 2026 Assam Assembly elections.

The joint complaint was submitted by the Congress, CPI(M), Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and CPI(ML)L.

It names Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia, accusing him of orchestrating a plan to delete the names of opposition supporters from the voter lists in as many as 60 legislative assembly constituencies (LACs).

According to the complaint, Saikia allegedly entrusted Assam cabinet minister Ashok Singhal with executing the deletions during a Zoom meeting held on January 4, 2026.

“The BJP MLAs were instructed to take necessary steps for deletion of names in 60 LACs, and the task was entrusted to Minister Ashok Singhal,” the complaint stated.

Calling it an “evil design” aimed at disenfranchising opposition supporters, the parties urged the police to secure and examine the video conference footage, which they claimed contains crucial evidence.

The complaint described the alleged move as a “larger conspiracy to delete the names of large numbers of genuine voters from the electoral rolls” and sought registration of a case under appropriate penal provisions to “save democracy”.

Dispur Police Station confirmed receipt of the complaint letter but did not clarify whether an FIR had been registered till the filing of this report.

Leaders from Congress, AJP, Raijor Dal and CPI(M) were present while submitting the complaint.

Those present included Congress MP Rakibul Hussain, former Congress MP Ripun Bora, Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress President Mira Borthakur, Assam Jatiya Parishad President Lurinjyoti Gogoi, and Raijor Dal leader Rasel Hussain.

Speaking to the press, Ripun Bora alleged that clear instructions were issued during the January 4 video conference.

“The MLAs and district presidents were asked to prepare lists of people who would not vote for the BJP and submit those lists to the Election Commission so that their names could be removed,” Bora claimed. He further alleged that Dilip Saikia had violated Election Commission norms and said the opposition would pursue action against him.

AJP president Lurinjyoti Gogoi accused the ruling party of attempting to influence the electoral process out of fear of defeat.

“The BJP has hatched a conspiracy to win the 2026 elections by vote theft. They have realised they cannot win fairly this time,” he alleged, demanding the release of the video call footage if Saikia had not made such statements.

Separately, Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia had earlier alleged that the BJP was planning large-scale irregularities in Assam’s voter lists.

On January 4, he claimed a “secret directive” had been issued to include 5,000 to 10,000 non-Assamese names in each constituency at the last moment to influence the polls.

He also alleged that some names were added without residents’ knowledge, citing instances of non-Assamese voters appearing in local household lists.

A Special Revision (SR) of the electoral rolls is currently underway in Assam, with the final voter list scheduled to be published on February 10.

With inputs from PTI