‘BLO used as scapegoat’: Ajit Anjum booked after video on Bihar voter roll revision gaps
An FIR has been registered against independent journalist Ajit Anjum in Bihar’s Begusarai district for allegedly spreading misinformation about the voter roll revision exercise in Bihar.
In a video on his YouTube channel on July 12, Anjum alleged large-scale irregularities in the voter list in the Sahebpur Kamal assembly constituency. The district administration, in a statement, dismissed these claims as “baseless”, “misleading”, and intended to “incite public sentiment”.
साहेबपूर कमाल विधान सभा क्षेत्र ( बलिया अनुमंडल, बेगूसराय) मे चल रहे SIR कार्यो के आलोक में एक Youtube Handle द्वारा फैलाए जा रहे भ्रामक ख़बरों के खंडन के संबंध में जारी प्रेस विज्ञप्ति। @IPRDBihar@ECISVEEP@CEOBihar #begusarai pic.twitter.com/E74tHQIui7
— जिला प्रशासन बेगूसराय (@DM_Begusarai) July 13, 2025
The FIR was registered on July 13 at the Balia police station based on a complaint by booth-level officer Mohammad Ansarulhaq. The complaint alleged that Ajit Anjum and his colleagues met him while he was uploading data using the BLO app and began asking questions about Muslim voters in the area. “Anjum’s focus was on the claim that the Muslim voter is being harassed which is absolutely false.”
The Begusarai SP confirmed the registration of the FIR.
Referring to the Election Commission’s guidelines, the Bihar administration claimed that the entire process was being carried out transparently.
बेगूसराय के एक BLO पर दबाव बनाकर मुझ पर FIR की गई है .
— Ajit Anjum (@ajitanjum) July 14, 2025
इस वीडियो को देखिए और तय कीजिए कि मैंने उस मुस्लिम BLO से क्या ऐसी बात की है , जिससे सांप्रदायिक सद्भाव खराब होता है .
और कुछ नहीं मिला तो ये रास्ता निकाला. एक मुस्लिम BLO को मोहरा बनाकर मेरे खिलाफ इस्तेमाल किया गया . वीडियो…
Responding to the FIR, Ajit Anjum posted on X that a “Muslim BLO is being used as a scapegoat against me”.
“An FIR has been filed against me in Begusarai by pressuring a BLO. Watch the video and decide for yourself if I said anything to that Muslim BLO that could possibly disturb communal harmony. When they couldn’t find anything else, they chose this route. A Muslim BLO is being used as a scapegoat against me. Instead of answering the questions raised in the video, the administration is resorting to intimidation. Let me just say this – I am still in Begusarai. And if needed, I will take this fight all the way to the Supreme Court. I will not be afraid.”
The video published on the YouTube channel is essentially a ground report investigating the Special Intensive Revision campaign underway in the Balia block. It shows how a large number of voter forms are being filled and uploaded without the required documents or photographs.
The report features direct conversations with the BLO and supervisor in Balia, suggesting that many forms are incomplete, some even missing names, signatures, or any form of identity proof.
The video also states that over 80 percent of people from “Muslim-majority” booths have submitted forms with proper documentation. Additionally, the BLO is seen clarifying that claims about Bangladeshis or Rohingyas being listed as voters are completely false. In doing so, the report questions several claims made by the Election Commission and raises serious concerns about the transparency of the voter list revision process.
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Bridge portion collapses on Jammu outskirts; 3-4 labourers feared trapped, 1 rescued
Jammu (PTI): A portion of a small bridge collapsed in the Bantalab area on the outskirts of Jammu city on Friday, trapping at least three to four labourers under the debris, while one injured worker was rescued, official sources said.
Authorities have closed the road link following the collapse of the portion of the bridge.
The incident occurred when labourers were carrying out repair work on a retaining wall near the bridge that was damaged in last year's flash floods, the sources said.
According to the sources, a section of the bridge suddenly gave way, burying workers engaged at the site under the rubble.
Police, Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams launched rescue operations to extricate those buried under the debris. They pulled out one injured labourer and shifted him to a hospital, the sources said.
Family members of the labourers present at the site said around six workers engaged at the site at the time of the incident came under the debris when the structure collapsed. The family members said while two of the labourers managed to escape, four got trapped.
The sources said those trapped included the husband of a woman labourer, a mason, an unmarried labourer and a relative of the contractor.
There was no official confirmation on the exact number of persons trapped under the debris till the filing of this report.
The rescue operations are ongoing.
