The Assam Congress and Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi have filed separate complaints with the police against the Bharatiya Janata Party for allegedly attempting to tamper with voter lists in the Boko-Chhaygaon Assembly seat on Thursday during the “special revision” of electoral rolls.
Unlike in 12 states and Union Territories, the Election Commission is not conducting a special intensive revision exercise in Assam. Instead, on November 17, it had directed the state chief electoral officer to conduct a “special revision” of electoral rolls.
The door-to-door verification took place in the state between November 22 and December 20. The process did not involve document verification, unlike the special intensive revision.
Assembly elections are expected to be held in March-April.
In a complaint filed at the Boko Police Station on Friday, Boko Block Congress Committee chief Tuleswar Rabha claimed that BJP leaders, along with a few locals and office staff, entered the election branch of the Boko co-district commissioner’s office in the evening, PTI reported.
The complaint named Zila Parishad member and South Kamrup district BJP general secretary Prahlad Biswas, South Kamrup district BJP secretary Mrinmoy Boro, South Kamrup district BJP Scheduled Tribes Morcha secretary Buddheshwar Rabha, two employees of a local gas agency and unnamed election officials.
It alleged that the group attempted to access the electoral roll revision portal using a government password to delete and include names using data from Form 7.
Form 7 of the Election Commission is the official application used to object to the inclusion of a name or to request the deletion of a name from an existing electoral roll.
Rabha said that the alleged attempt came to light at around 8.30 pm on Thursday, following which the group was confronted. He demanded an impartial enquiry into the matter and action against those involved.
Gogoi also filed a complaint on Friday at the Jorhat Police Station, saying that he had received video footage a day earlier showing four persons “unlawfully entering and operating inside the Boko co-district commissioner office, Kamrup (Rural), Assam”.
He added that the video footage showed the four persons “unauthorisedly accessing” official documents and electronic databases.
“As such, there may be every possibility to illegally adding fictitious voters’ names and deleting names of genuine voters, without any lawful authority,” the Sivasagar MLA said.
He added that the video showed that the group allegedly entered the office unauthorised on Thursday night and that none of them appeared to be government staff or other officials.
The complaint also named Biswas, Boro, Rabha and an employee of a gas agency.
He claimed that the activity was being carried out without permission from the Election Commission and appeared to have been done “with mala fide intention to manipulate the electoral roll for political gain, especially in view of the [upcoming elections]”.
The Raijor Dal chief added that the alleged act could not have been carried out without the help of Boko Co-District Commissioner Priyanshu Bharadwaj, Kamrup (Rural) District Commissioner Debo Kumar Mishra and the chowkidar at the Boko co-district commissioner’s office.
He sought the registration of a first information report under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to theft, forgery, criminal trespass, and forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine.
The actions also violated provisions of the 1950 Representation of People Act, the complaint said.
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