Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi accuses BJP of removing anti-party voters from rolls

Raijor Dal president and Independent MLA from Assam’s Sivasagar, Akhil Gogoi, on Tuesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of conspiring to remove the names of lakhs of voters who do not support the party from electoral rolls during the special revision process.

Gogoi claimed that a plan had been made to delete the names of around 10,000 voters from each Assembly constituency under the direction of Assam BJP president Dilip Saikia. He alleged that the matter was discussed during a virtual BJP meeting held on the evening of January 4, which he said he overheard.

According to Gogoi, party functionaries were instructed to strictly implement the Special Revision exercise and prepare lists of voters who do not vote for the BJP. He further alleged that Assam minister Ashok Singhal had been given responsibility for removing the names of eligible voters in 60 Assembly constituencies and that government booth-level officers were involved in the process along with BJP workers.

The BJP rejected the allegations, calling them baseless. Dilip Saikia said there was no instruction to remove anyone’s name from the voter list. He said party workers were only asked to monitor the claims and objections process during the revision exercise to ensure genuine voters were not left out.

Saikia said similar allegations had been made by the Opposition in the past, including ahead of elections in Bihar. He said the Opposition had first questioned the voter roll revision process and was now making what he described as wild allegations against the BJP.