Speaking at a news conference in Guwahati on Monday, Sarma said he would be prepared to contest an election using paper ballots if the governments in Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana stepped down. His remarks came as opposition parties mounted demonstrations in Delhi against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and alleged vote theft.
“I am ready to contest on the ballot paper if Rahul Gandhi and Congress are ready for their governments’ resignations,” Sarma said. He argued that Congress could not question the credibility of elections organised by the Election Commission while continuing to govern states where it held power.
The chief minister’s demand was a political challenge, not an election decision. Decisions on how parliamentary and assembly elections are conducted fall under election law, not by a chief minister.
Sarma also questioned why Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, should retain his position while alleging that elections had been compromised. He said Congress should explain whether it intended to participate in future contests conducted using electronic voting machines, instead of disputing selected outcomes.
The remarks followed Monday’s mobilisation by the opposition INDIA bloc in the capital, where protesters marched towards the Supreme Court challenging changes to electoral rolls. Opposition leaders have demanded independent scrutiny of deletions and safeguards against the removal of eligible voters.
Gandhi and other opposition figures accuse the authorities of overseeing a process that could disenfranchise legitimate voters and favour the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP rejects accusations of systematic vote manipulation, while the Election Commission maintains that electoral roll verification is aimed at accurate voter records.
The competing claims have sharpened disagreements over the independence of the election administration. Opposition parties have demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, questioning its credibility. Sarma rejected that demand and accused Congress of putting pressure on constitutional institutions when decisions did not suit its political position.
He argued that Gandhi’s own election to Parliament raised a contradiction in the opposition’s campaign. If Congress disputed elections conducted through existing arrangements, Sarma asked, it should clarify why its successful candidates and governments were entitled to remain in office.
His references to Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana nevertheless drew a distinction that the political argument did not resolve: those governments were elected at different times, and Sarma supplied no evidence establishing that their victories involved vote theft. His allegation remained part of the dispute rather than a verified finding of electoral wrongdoing.
Sarma defended the SIR as a necessary measure to address inaccuracies in voter lists, arguing that illegal immigration and demographic changes warranted closer scrutiny, particularly in Assam, West Bengal and Jharkhand. He proposed that an intensive revision should take place across the country every five years.
The chief minister claimed that failure to remove ineligible names would undermine electoral integrity. Opposition parties, however, say the central concern is whether genuine electors can prove their eligibility without facing disproportionate documentary requirements, administrative errors or exclusions that are difficult to reverse.
The issue has become contentious because revisions to voter registers affect the ability to exercise the franchise before an election takes place. The distinction between identifying duplicate or ineligible entries and excluding legitimate voters is central to the legal and political challenges surrounding the exercise.
Sarma further accused Congress of trying to discredit public institutions and portrayed the demonstrations as an attempt to exert political pressure without sufficient popular backing. Those characterisations were his assessments; the size of the protests and the validity of electoral complaints remain separate questions.
He announced plans for demonstrations at district headquarters across Assam between October 13 and 31 to oppose Gandhi’s allegations against the Election Commission. The proposed mobilisation would bring the ruling BJP’s response to the dispute beyond the chief minister’s news conference and into political campaigning.
The controversy also centres on the use of electronic voting machines, which Congress leaders have questioned while calling for stronger verification and transparency. Sarma asked whether the party would boycott future elections if those machines continued to be used, highlighting its participation in the same electoral system it is challenging.
