Congress protests 'irregularities' in Assam draft roll after Special Revision
Guwahati (PTI): The Assam unit of the Congress on Tuesday staged a protest against the Election Commission and the BJP government over alleged irregularities found in the draft electoral rolls, published after a Special Revision (SR) of the voter lists.
Assam has registered a 1.35 per cent increase in voters as per the integrated draft electoral roll for the state, published on December 30 after Special Revision was conducted ahead of the Assembly elections.
The Guwahati city committee of Assam Congress organised a sit-in demonstration near the Secretariat complex here.
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"The irregularities in the voter list are being done to help the BJP return to power in Assam. The ECI is working for the BJP only. The vote thieves must step down from power. We condemn CM Himanta Biswa Sarma for attempting to return to power through vote theft," Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) General Secretary Pradyut Bhuyan told reporters.
Although police barricaded and cordoned off the Manavendra Sharma Complex, a building that houses an office of the opposition party, protesters eventually broke through the barricades and came out onto the road.
After shouting slogans and holding the protest for some time, they went inside the complex and concluded the agitation.
Responding to the protest, the CM said, "This is a draft roll, and usually some mistakes remain in the drafts. I don't think there will be any mistake in the final roll. In draft, we see overlapping of names or entering neighbours' names in the same address, but these all are usually rectified in the final list."
The final electoral roll will be published on February 10.
"I don't think there is any controversy. It is a huge task. Entering the names of two crore people is a mammoth job, and we should not doubt the intention of the officers. Let us give the officials a chance, and I believe all the flaws will be corrected in the final list," he added.
The draft roll reflected a total of 2,52,01,624 electors, representing a 1.35 per cent increase from the previous final roll published in January 2025.
A total of 7,86,841 additions and 4,47,196 deletions have taken place from January 6 to December 27 last year.
During the SR process, 4,78,992 deceased electors and 5,23,680 shifted electors were identified. Another 53,619 multiple entries were identified.
The Election Commission, however, said that these names have not yet been deleted. These will only be processed for removal or shifting after formal applications are received during the current claims and objections period.
Claims and objections can be filed from December 27 to January 22, with special campaign dates fixed for January 3-4 and January 10-11.
Assembly elections are likely to be held in March-April in Assam.
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11k litres of milk poured into Narmada river after religious event; environmentalists see red
Sehore (PTI): Around 11,000 litres of milk were poured into Narmada river, often called the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh, in Sehore district on the culmination of a 21-day religious event as part of a sanctification ritual, prompting environmentalists to flag its negative impact on the ecosystem.
The event concluded at Satdev village in Bherunda area, located about 90 km from the district headquarters, with a 'mahayagna' on Wednesday.
The milk was offered to the river as part of rituals and prayers for the purity of the waters, the well-being of pilgrims and prosperity, organisers said.
The milk was brought in tankers to the riverbank and later poured into the flowing water amid chanting of mantras in the presence of a crowd of devotees.
However, environmentalists raised concerns over the practice, warning of its potential ecological impact.
"Such large quantities of organic matter can deplete dissolved oxygen in water, adversely affecting the river ecosystem. These impact local communities dependent on the river for drinking water and threaten aquatic life as well as domestic animals," noted environmentalist and wildlife activist Ajay Dube said.
Religious offerings should be symbolic and mindful, he asserted.
Renowned environmentalist Subhash Pandey said 11,000 litres of milk acts as a significant organic pollutant.
"It is highly oxygen-demanding and can lead to oxygen depletion, aquatic mortality, eutrophication (process of plants growing on river surface) and loss of potability. These effects are predictable from dairy-effluent chemistry and have been documented in similar incidents worldwide," Pandey pointed out.
Narmada originates at Amarkantak in the state and traverses 1,312 km westward to Maharashtra and Gujarat, emptying into the Arabian Sea via the Gulf of Cambay.
It is the largest west-flowing river in the peninsula, passing through a rift valley, and acts as a crucial water source for irrigation in MP, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
