An investigation by The Reporters’ Collective has revealed attempts to remove approximately 80,000 Muslim voters from the electoral roll in Bihar’s Dhaka constituency by falsely asserting that they are not Indian citizens. This effort included a submission made on the letterhead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state headquarters and another from the personal assistant of BJP’s Dhaka Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Pawan Kumar Jaiswal.
Formal requests to remove these Muslim voters were directed to the Election Commission of India (ECI) through the district Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) and the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar. The report states, “It was a systematic and targeted attempt to single out and delete Muslim voters en masse in the Dhaka constituency. Such attempts to manipulate voter lists with false information are a crime. However, ECI officials did not take action against those attempting the large-scale disenfranchisement of citizens in Dhaka.”
The collective found that some Muslim individuals were anxious upon hearing about the BJP’s efforts to delete their names and were often unaware of the attempts to classify them as alien citizens. Dhaka is a border constituency in Bihar’s East Champaran district, won by the BJP in the 2020 assembly elections with a margin of just 10,114 votes out of over 208,000 cast. The potential removal of even a few thousand voters could significantly influence such closely contested elections.
The investigations revealed that nearly 40% of eligible voters were targeted for removal from the electoral roll. The collective obtained all the petitions filed by the BJP with the ERO, finding that every voter mentioned for deletion was Muslim. Each request was signed by a BJP Booth Level Agent (BLA), who affirmed, “I hereby declare that the information furnished by me is on the basis of proper verification… and I am aware of the penal provisions of Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 for making false declaration.”
Section 31 stipulates penalties for wrongful claims regarding voter rolls. Yet, the BLA did not specify reasons for the deletions, despite this being a requirement. Over a thirteen-day period, 130 names were recommended for deletion. On the final day for objections to the draft voter list, a new submission was made, this time signed by Dhiraj Kumar, Jaiswal’s personal assistant. This claim sought the deletion of 78,384 voters from the draft, alleging they had been added without proper documentation.
The list provided included only Muslim names or those stereotypically associated with Muslims. This indicates either a systematic filtering process or a targeted effort to catalog these voters. When questioned, the ERO of Dhaka confirmed receipt of the BJP’s complaints regarding deletions, noting that the validity of these voters’ documents would be verified during a regular inspection period.
According to the report, the ECI bypassed its manual for voter roll revision in Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), leading to a regulatory vacuum and diminishing the trust of opposition party workers. This has raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process, particularly given the constituency’s significant Muslim-Yadav demographic.
Historically, Dhaka has been a bastion for the Congress and later the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Pawan Jaiswal, who returned to power in 2020, is now facing re-election, with RJD’s Faisal Rahman as his main challenger. The report emerges amid broader controversy surrounding Bihar’s electoral roll revision, viewed by many as a tactic to marginalize certain communities.
On September 18, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi escalated accusations of “vote theft,” alleging that during the 2023 Assembly elections, voter IDs in other states were systematically removed targeting opposition supporters.
The article originally appeared on Maktoob Media.
Tags: Bihar, Muslim voters, Dhaka constituency, BJP letterhead, electoral manipulation
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