By Scroll Staff
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday claimed that lakhs of “doubtful voters” had been removed in the state during the special revision of electoral rolls, PTI reported.
Several of these deletions had taken place based on complaints filed by workers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, he added.
The chief minister’s comment came a day after the Election Commission published the final voter list for the state. An additional 2.4 lakh names were deleted in the final list after 10 lakh voters were removed from the draft released in December.
“This is only the beginning,” Sarma said during a press conference. “Names of more such people will be deleted when the special intensive revision is conducted.”
The Election Commission had been conducting a special revision of the voter list in Assam, which is similar to the usual updates to the electoral roll. Assam is not among the 12 states and Union Territories where the poll panel is conducting the special intensive revision of the voter lists.
“As far as possible, our party members filed complaints,” the BJP leader said. “Names have been struck off based on these.”
On January 27, Sarma claimed that four lakh to five lakh “Miya” voters would be deleted when the special intensive revision takes place in the state, and acknowledged that the BJP government had “made arrangements” to preliminarily prevent them from voting.
A day later, Sarma said that BJP workers had filed more than five lakh complaints against suspected foreigners during the special revision.
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