GUWAHATI: Opposition Congress on Wednesday held a protest in Assam’s Kamrup district against alleged “vote theft” through the Special Revision (SR).The protest was organised in front of the office of the Boko–Chaygaon Sub-Divisional Commissioner against actions of BJP workers who allegedly entered the office at night and interfered with the deletion and inclusion of names in the voters’ list.Addressing the protesters, Congress MLA Rakibuddin Ahmed criticised the recent remarks made by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.”The entire SR process is nothing but a tactic to steal the opposition’s votes. The EC is helping the BJP in this game. On the other hand, our CM is making only polarising statements.”For the past 2-3 days, the CM has been repeatedly making statements at public meetings that Miyas should be punished. It is really unfortunate that a CM is making such a statement against one community,” he added.Ahmed said such remarks were unbecoming of a chief minister and unacceptable as the people concerned have been living in Assam for hundreds of years.”These people are deeply connected with the land, its culture, dignity and unity. The BJP is attempting to create divisions in Assam, and the CM’s repeated calls to harass a particular community and to delete their votes are reprehensible and a dangerous sign for democracy,” he added. After the protest, Congress leaders and workers met the election authorities and demanded strict action against the alleged irregularities.Stating that “Bangladeshi Miyas” live in Assam, Sarma on Wednesday said more than five lakh complaints have been filed by BJP workers during the SR process against such “foreigners”.’Miya’ is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam and the non-Bengali speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance.Assam has registered a 1.35 per cent increase in voters according to the integrated draft electoral rolls for the state, published on December 30 after SR was conducted ahead of the Assembly elections.The draft rolls after the SR reflected a total of 2,52,01,624 electors, representing a 1.35 per cent increase from the previous final rolls published in January 2025.A total of 7,86,841 additions and 4,47,196 deletions have taken place from January 6 to December 27 last year.During the SR process, 4,78,992 deceased electors and 5,23,680 shifted electors were identified. Another 53,619 multiple entries were identified.The Election Commission, however, said that these names have not yet been deleted. These will only be processed for removal or shifting after formal applications are received during the current claims and objections period.The final electoral rolls will be published on February 10.
