Assam Congress hits streets over ‘vote chori’, alleges bid to rig 2026 polls

Dispur, Jan 6: Hundreds of Congress workers, led by the Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress (APMC) and the Assam Pradesh Youth Congress (APYC), staged a high-pitched protest outside the Manabendra Sharma Complex in Dispur on Tuesday, alleging large-scale irregularities in electoral rolls and demanding action over “vote chori”.

Calling the draft electoral rolls “deeply flawed”, the protesters accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) of manipulating voter lists to tilt the playing field in favour of the ruling party ahead of the Assam Assembly elections.

The demonstration saw strong sloganeering against the BJP and the poll panel, with protesters alleging a systematic attempt to add unknown voters to local constituencies while deleting the names of genuine electors.

Tensions briefly flared outside the complex as police were deployed to manage the gathering.

Leading the Mahila Congress contingent, Mira Bothakur alleged a deliberate strategy to tamper with voter lists in select constituencies. She claimed the exercise was aimed at engineering electoral outcomes rather than ensuring free and fair polls.

“We strongly condemn the BJP’s attempts to push the Assam Assembly elections through vote theft. The Election Commission is functioning like a BJP morcha. We will not allow elections to be held on the basis of error-filled electoral roll drafts,” Bothakur said, demanding a CBI probe into the alleged role of Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia.

Leaders of the Youth Congress echoed similar concerns, warning that the alleged irregularities posed a direct threat to democratic rights in the state.

Iftekhar Younis, General Secretary of Media Department, APCC claimed that voters from other states were being registered in Assam during the Special Revision process, while legitimate voters were being excluded.

“Rahul Gandhi had earlier raised the issue of vote chori. What we are witnessing now is the registration of voters from outside Assam in our constituencies. This conspiracy must stop,” he said, adding that the Election Commission and the state government should rely on development work to seek electoral support rather than “manipulating voter lists”.

The protest comes amid growing Opposition allegations that the latest electoral roll draft contains serious discrepancies, including unfamiliar names and deletions, which they claim disproportionately benefit the ruling BJP.

The BJP and the state government, however, have rejected the charges. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has previously said that the preparation of electoral rolls lies solely with the Election Commission of India and that political parties have no role in drafting them.

He has urged parties to flag errors through established legal and institutional mechanisms instead of making allegations on the streets.

“The full responsibility of the voters’ list lies with the ECI. We (BJP) have no say in it. We will also file our objections, as there is time till January 22 to submit complaints,” Sarma said, during a press briefing in Guwahati, on Monday.

With Assembly elections approaching, the row over voter lists has sharpened political fault lines in Assam, setting the stage for an intensifying battle over electoral integrity and democratic process in the months ahead.