Guwahati: Leader of Opposition in the Assam Legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, has written to the Election Commission (EC), raising concerns over discrepancies in the draft electoral roll released in December and urging the poll panel to correct them before the final voter list is notified ahead of the upcoming state elections.

In his letter to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Saikia highlighted reports from media and ground-level feedback indicating “unauthorised inclusion of non-Assamese speaking voters and other procedural lapses that threaten the integrity of the electoral process.”

“Specific instances have come to light where ‘unknown’ persons have been added as voters in households without the knowledge of residents,” Saikia stated in the letter.

The integrated draft electoral roll for the Special Revision was prepared following a house-to-house survey conducted by block-level officers across Assam’s 126 assembly constituencies from November 22 to December 20, 2025. The draft list was published on December 27, and citizens have been allowed to file claims or objections until January 22, 2026. The final electoral roll is scheduled for publication on February 10, ahead of elections expected to be held in March-April 2026.

Saikia cited a specific case from Guwahati’s Kamrup (Metropolitan) district, where four non-Assamese individuals were found enrolled at two separate houses on Tayabulla Road without the knowledge of the respective families. The discrepancies were discovered when the families checked which voters were registered to their addresses.

“Moreover, an especially alarming irregularity has been identified in my Nazira constituency, specifically the registration of voter entries against nonexistent house numbers, showing as household number 00,” Saikia wrote, urging the EC to conduct a swift and transparent investigation into all reported discrepancies and to make the findings public.

He further requested that the finalisation of electoral rolls be temporarily halted until all irregularities are verified and resolved, ensuring the removal of any unauthorised or “unknown” voter entries.

“Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and any compromise in the accuracy of electoral rolls erodes public confidence and democratic values. I trust the EC will take decisive action to uphold the sanctity of the electoral process in Assam,” Saikia added.

The Congress leader’s letter comes a day after Kamrup (Metropolitan) district authorities acknowledged discrepancies in two households in Guwahati and confirmed that corrections would be made before the final list is published.

The draft electoral roll released on December 27 lists a total of 2,52,01,624 (25.20 million) electors, reflecting a 1.35% increase from the previous final roll published in January 2025. According to officials, the Special Revision identified 4,78,992 deceased electors, 5,23,680 electors who had shifted residences, and 53,619 electors with multiple entries—a combined total of 1.06 million names. These names are expected to be removed after the claims and objections period concludes.

Unlike in other states, where Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway, Assam is conducting a Special Revision (SR) because the process of revising the National Register of Citizens (NRC) has not yet been completed. Unlike SIR, the SR process does not require physical verification of documents. Instead, it relies on citizens voluntarily submitting forms to request inclusion of new voters, corrections, or objections to existing entries.

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