‘Electoral Rolls’ Row: ECI Says Parties Slept On Scrutiny; Opposition Calls It Abdication

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has found itself at the centre of a storm after Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Gaurav Gogoi on Sunday accused it of releasing “dirty” voter lists and shifting the burden of cleaning them onto political parties.

“How far the institution has fallen,” Gogoi remarked, sharpening his attack on the Commission, which had just a day earlier issued a detailed clarification on the process of electoral roll preparation.

Public interest lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan too joined the chorus of criticism, alleging that the poll body was “putting the blame for fake voters on political parties.” According to him, the Commission has every voter’s details—including electronic records with addresses, father’s name and EPIC numbers—and can easily detect duplicates. “It is the job of the ECI to prepare a proper voters list, not of political parties. The ECI has become a dishonest stooge of the BJP,” Bhushan charged.

ECI’s Defence

On Saturday, the Election Commission issued a statement stressing that “pure electoral rolls strengthen democracy” and that utmost transparency was maintained in their preparation.

The Commission explained that the system for Parliament and Assembly elections is a multi-layered decentralised construct, handled by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs)—generally Sub-Divisional Magistrates—and Booth Level Officers (BLOs). These officers, it said, hold the primary responsibility for accuracy.

According to the ECI:

• Draft electoral rolls are first published and shared in both digital and physical formats with all recognised political parties and are made available on its website.

• A full one-month window is provided for electors and parties to file Claims and Objections before the rolls are finalised.

• The final rolls are again shared with political parties and published on the website.

• A two-tier appeal mechanism allows aggrieved parties to approach the District Magistrate and, subsequently, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state or UT.

The Commission argued that these steps embody transparency, but added that “some political parties and their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) did not examine the Electoral Rolls at the appropriate time and did not point out errors, if any, to SDMs/EROs, DEOs or CEOs.” It insisted that the appropriate stage to raise such issues is during the Claims and Objections period, not after final publication.

“Had these issues been raised at the right time, it would have enabled the concerned EROs to correct the mistakes, if genuine, before elections,” the ECI said, while maintaining that it “continues to welcome scrutiny” by parties and electors alike.

Clash Over Accountability

The clash, however, lies in where accountability begins and ends. While the ECI highlights procedural opportunities for parties to scrutinise rolls, critics argue that the primary custodianship of electoral integrity rests with the Commission.

Bhushan contends that with a centralised electronic database at its disposal, the ECI is better equipped than political parties to detect fakes, deletions, or duplicates. Gogoi, meanwhile, accuses it of undermining institutional credibility by pushing the burden downstream.

Amid these escalating allegations of “vote theft” and manipulated voter rolls, the Election Commission has announced that it will hold a press conference on Sunday at 3:00 PM at the National Media Centre in New Delhi. The presser is expected to directly address the controversy surrounding electoral rolls and institutional credibility.

Assam Context

The controversy holds added weight in Assam, where delimitation redrew constituency boundaries for the first time in decades. The 2023 final electoral roll listed 2.43 crore electors, an increase of around 1.9 lakh voters (0.8%). Opposition parties had already expressed fears that errors or omissions under the new boundaries could have far-reaching implications.

Further, the State Election Commission recently finalised rolls for the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections—seen as a testing ground for the Commission’s claim of transparency and the opposition’s allegations of negligence.

What Lies Ahead

Observers say the truth likely lies between the two narratives: while parties are indeed expected to deploy Booth Level Agents to scrutinise rolls in time, the ECI also has both the statutory duty and the technical means to ensure error-free rolls proactively.

With national elections looming and regional polls around the corner, the Commission faces mounting pressure to back its assurances with verifiable data—such as constituency-wise breakdowns of additions, deletions, duplicates flagged, and objections accepted or rejected.

Until then, the battle of words continues. For Gogoi and Bhushan, the ECI has abdicated its core responsibility; for the Commission, political parties are blaming it for what they failed to do themselves.

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