Insaaf Times Desk

The issue of voter list deletions has ignited political tensions in Bihar. CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya on Tuesday accused the BJP and its Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of orchestrating a “conspiracy” to remove the names of the poor, Dalits, and Muslims from the draft voter rolls. Speaking at a press conference, he said the government was “silencing the voices of youth” and undermining democracy.

Dipankar noted growing anger among Bihar’s youth, who face unemployment and mass terminations. When they marched to the BJP office to press their demands, he said, they were brutally lathi-charged. “The government must stop using the language of batons and start democratic dialogue. Don’t turn Bihar into Nepal; this is a democracy,” the CPI(ML) leader remarked.

Referring to Nepal’s ongoing political turmoil, he pointed out that the Prime Minister there was forced to resign and even parliament witnessed arson. “This is a transitional phase, but Nepal will not revert to monarchy. Protecting democracy is imperative,” he said.

He also objected to a recent remark by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who had claimed that “today’s situation exists because Nepal never merged with India.” Dipankar argued such statements weaken India’s ties with its neighbors. “Bihar cannot handle its own problems, yet its leaders talk about Nepal,” he retorted.

The CPI(ML) claimed that in the first phase, nearly 6.5 million names were struck off the rolls, and now a fresh conspiracy is underway to delete names from the draft list. The party alleged BJP legislators and BLAs were directly involved in the exercise.

As an example, CPI(ML) cited BJP MLA Amrendra Pratap Singh and his BLAs in Ara constituency, who applied to remove 220 poor voters from booths 368 and 369 and transfer them to Sandesh constituency. Similarly, BJP BLA Manish Kumar sought to cut 93 poor voters from booth 156, though the move was blocked after intervention by CPI(ML)’s own BLA.

According to the party, in Ara alone, applications have been filed to remove 887 voters across 63 booths. Yet, the administration has not even displayed these names in the claims and objections list. The CPI(ML) warned that any attempt to disenfranchise the poor and marginalized will not be tolerated.

State secretary Kunal, Dhirendra Jha, Shivprakash Ranjan, Qayamuddin Ansari, and Abhyuday were also present at the press conference.