Rajasthan: Congress accuses BJP of orchestrating mass voter deletion after BLO threatens suicide

The Congress in Rajasthan has accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of orchestrating mass deletion of voters during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, reported The Indian Express on Sunday.

This came after a video, showing a booth-level officer alleging that he was being pressured to delete hundreds of voters from the rolls of his Hawa Mahal Assembly constituency in Jaipur, was widely circulated on social media.

In the video, Kirti Kumar, a government teacher deployed as a BLO amid the SIR, can purportedly be heard saying on a call: “I will visit the collector’s office and will kill myself there.”

Kumar told The Indian Express that he was speaking with the councillor of the area, “who was pressuring me to delete the names”.

He has alleged that he was being “threatened and pushed beyond capacity” to look into the BJP’s objections seeking the deletion of 470 voters, mostly Muslims, from the draft electoral rolls, reported Newslaundry on Thursday.

Hawa Mahal is a Muslim-majority constituency that BJP MLA Balmukund Acharya won in the 2023 Assembly elections.

“How am I supposed to do that without following the procedure?” Kumar was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “After my video went viral, senior officials intervened and told me to follow the rulebook.”

Suresh Saini, the councillor of the ward, denied Kumar’s allegations, claiming that there was “large-scale fraud” in the voter list of the area, according to the newspaper.

“Fake addresses are being used to register fake voters,” he was quoted as saying. “I raised objections and applied for the removal of such names with supporting evidence. This amounts to voter fraud by the Congress.”

On the other hand, the Congress claimed that Kumar’s allegations reflect a broader pattern of voter deletions in Rajasthan, reported The Indian Express.

The party also alleged that on January 15, the final day of filing claims and objections, “pressure was exerted through EROs [electoral roll officers] on BLOs to strike off the names of voters aligned with Congress ideology”.

“Pre-filled Form-7 data was even thrust upon BLOs, which is a direct assault on the impartial election process,” claimed Rajasthan’s former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on social media.

He added: “In many places, when administrative officials and BLOs refused to partake in this murder of democracy, they were threatened with transfers by people from the ruling party.”

Gehlot claimed that such attempts were also made in Sardarpura, which is his constituency, and accused the BJP of insulting the “public and democracy”.

During a press conference, Acharya, the Hawa Mahal MLA, dismissed the Congress’ allegations as “baseless” and said the party leaders “have lost their mental balance”, reported The Indian Express.

“The Election Commission is an independent constitutional body meant to keep the democratic process alive,” he added. “The commission is working efficiently. The Congress won a seat in Rajasthan during the recent bypolls, why didn’t they object then? Congress needs to fight on real issues.”

The special intensive revision of electoral rolls is underway in 12 states and Union Territories, including Rajasthan. The exercise is currently in the claims and objections stage in the state.

In Rajasthan, the draft voter rolls published on December 16 showed that the names of 41.85 lakh voters were deleted. The State Election Commission stated that of the total, 8.75 lakh had died, 29.6 lakh had shifted from their registered addresses and 3.44 lakh were enrolled at multiple places.

In Bihar, where the revision was completed ahead of the Assembly polls in November, at least 47 lakh voters were excluded from the final electoral roll.

Concerns had been raised after the announcement in Bihar that the exercise could remove eligible voters from the roll. Several petitioners had moved the Supreme Court against it.