The Congress on Monday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan of manipulating voter lists to remove opposition supporters, alleging the use of forged forms during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls. Addressing a press conference, Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Tikaram Jully demanded a forensic investigation into the forms used to delete voters’ names.
Dotasra said the draft voter rolls published on December 16 showed about 45 lakh people were marked absent, shifted, or deceased. While claims and objections were originally open until January 15, the Election Commission extended the deadline to January 19. Dotasra alleged, “Until January 3, there was no chaos, and the system was running smoothly. However, on January 3, BJP’s National General Secretary BL Santosh visited Rajasthan, held a meeting, and then the process of fraudulently adding and removing votes began.”
Citing Election Commission data, Dotasra claimed that between December 17 and January 14, the BJP submitted applications through 937 booth-level agents to add 211 names and remove 5,694 voters, while Congress submitted 185 additions and only two deletions. He said thousands of forms were submitted in targeted constituencies where Congress had won, claiming signatures of booth-level agents were forged. “In every Assembly constituency, 10 to 15 thousand fake computerized forms were printed, and MLAs, ministers, and candidates were summoned to submit them,” he said.
Dotasra further alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the state on January 13, staying at the chief minister’s residence, and that a “secret operation” was carried out between January 3 and January 13 to remove voters aligned with Congress, as well as groups unhappy with the government and those over 60 years old. He added that thousands of forms were rejected by sub-divisional magistrates when signatures appeared forged. Several booth-level agents also reportedly told the media that they had not signed the forms.
The Congress leaders said they had informed Rajasthan Chief Electoral Officer Naveen Mahajan about the alleged pressure on officers to accept the forms. Dotasra accused the BJP of claiming that the deletions targeted Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, calling the exercise a “murder of democracy.” Jully added, “The SIR program was going smoothly until Amit Shah’s visit. After his visit, applications to remove the names of Congress voters began to come in. We are going to the Election Commission and also registering a case. They are afraid and trying to come to power by cutting the opposition’s votes, but we will not let them succeed.”
The BJP has not commented on the allegations, though state minister Gautam Dak said the law allows people to be heard if their names are proposed for removal and dismissed Congress claims as politically motivated. The special intensive revision of electoral rolls is underway in 12 states, including Rajasthan, and will conclude with the publication of final rolls on February 14.
