Attempts made to delete nearly 80,000 Muslim voters in Bihar’s Dhaka constituency
reveals investigative report
Patna: Nearly 80,000 Muslim voters in Bihar’s Dhaka constituency were targeted for deletion from the electoral roll through formal submissions made in the name of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionaries, according to an exclusive investigation by The Reporters’ Collective.
The investigation found that written requests for mass deletions were submitted to the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in East Champaran district and to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Bihar. One such petition was filed in the name of the personal assistant of Dhaka’s BJP MLA Pawan Kumar Jaiswal, while another was submitted on the BJP’s state headquarters letterhead in Patna.
The petitions alleged that over 78,000 Muslim voters were “not Indian citizens” and sought their removal from the voter list. However, the ERO acknowledged receiving the submissions and said bulk deletion requests would not be entertained, though the names were marked for verification during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process.
Local residents expressed deep anxiety after learning that their names appeared in the BJP-backed complaints. Among those listed was Firoz Alam, sarpanch of Fulwaria Gram Panchayat, who said his entire family had been wrongly accused of being non-citizens. Teachers, booth-level officers, and even newly registered young voters were also among those named.
The sitting BJP MLA, Pawan Jaiswal, did not respond directly to the revelations. Instead, he accused the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of attempting to delete 40,000 Hindu voters, though he declined to provide proof.
Dhaka constituency, bordering Nepal, has a history of close contests. In 2020, Jaiswal defeated RJD’s Faisal Rahman by just over 10,000 votes out of more than two lakh polled. Given this margin, even a few thousand deletions could significantly alter the electoral outcome.
The Reporters’ Collective noted that such mass targeting of one community is unprecedented, though smaller-scale voter list manipulations have long been alleged in Bihar. Critics say the controversial SIR process, conducted in haste and confusion, has created opportunities for political interference and disenfranchisement of minorities.
The final electoral roll for Dhaka will be released on October 1, which will determine the fate of the nearly 80,000 Muslim voters whose citizenship has been questioned.
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21 hours raid fetch nothing for ED, claims Karnataka Cong MLA’s son
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Congress MLA N A Haris' son Mohammed Haris Nalapad on Tuesday claimed that the 21 hours of search by the ED in his house and other locations did not fetch anything.
The Enforcement Directorate on Monday raided the premises of the two sons of Haris (Mohammed Haris Nalapad and Omar Farook Nalapad), Aqeeb Khan, grandson of ex-Union cabinet minister K Rahman Khan and an alleged crypto hacker named Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki in a crypto currency-linked money laundering case.
More than a dozen premises in the city have been covered as part of the action executed under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"My grandfather is 89-year-old. There is not a single bad mark. My father (N A Haris) is a four-time MLA. There is not a single accusation against him. Their only intention was to target myself and my brother. As simple as that," Mohammed Nalapad, who is a former Karnataka Youth Congress president, told reporters.
According to him, the ED officials carried out raids for 21 hours.
"After 21 hours of search, they took away only two mobile phones from our house. They did not get a single paisa. The ED will testify it," the Congress leader said.
Exuding faith in the law, he said he is ready to fight the case in court.
"Me and my father have opted for politics and we are in public life. You can call me whatever you want but I have not done anything wrong," Mohammed Nalapad said.
Regarding his relationship with Sriki, he said he knew him but had no clue what he was doing.
"I have never said that either me or my brother do not know Sriki. But how will I know what he does in his house? Can his crimes be linked to us," he asked.
The money laundering case stems from some Karnataka Police FIRs and chargesheets filed in a 2017 case of hacking of national and international websites, stealing of bitcoins and sale of these 'stolen' virtual digital assets (VDA) through crypto platforms by the alleged hacker Sriki and his associates.
The Nalapad brothers and Aqeeb Khan are alleged to be the beneficiaries of the proceeds of crime generated through this alleged crypto-linked crime, the ED said.
