The Election Commission of India has refuted fresh claims by the Congress party regarding alleged irregularities in the preparation of Bihar's electoral roll. The party had claimed that 947 voters in Nidani village of Bodh Gaya are listed under a single house number.
"In the official voter list – 947 voters live in the same house (house no. 6). Reality? Nidani has hundreds of houses and families, but the list has crammed the entire village into an imaginary house," the Congress said in a post on X on Thursday.
The post was also shared by Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. "Look at the EC's magic. An entire village nestled in one house!" he wrote sharing the post.
The Congress also questioned the Booth Level Officer's door-to-door verification and asked why actual house numbers were omitted from the voter list and who would benefit from this.
"This is no ordinary mistake, but a mockery in the name of transparency. When house numbers are erased, it becomes easy to hide fake voters, duplicates, and ghostly identities," the party claimed in its post on X.
"If 947 voters in a small village can be dumped at one address, then imagine how big the scale of irregularities in Bihar and the whole of India would be. As Rahul Gandhi ji is continuously saying – 'Democracy is being stolen. Nidani is its living proof," the party added also seeking a response from the Chief Election Commissioner.
Local authorities, however, were quick to counter the claim and clarified that the house number is "notional" since residences in the locality do not have numbers.
The Gaya district administration took to social media and shared four video clips on X from villagers. "In many villages, house numbers are not allotted, due to which symbolic house numbers are given in the voter roll. The voters mentioned are all present in the village and are genuine voters. Voters from Booth No. 161 of Nidani village are themselves clarifying the situation," the post read.
"Village Nidani, Booth No. 161, here defamation is being done that 900 votes are in one house, that is completely wrong. We are satisfied with the survey done by the Election Commission… and as far as house numbers are concerned, there are no house numbers in 161, we live in the village, house numbers don’t exist in the village," a resident featured in the video said.
"My name is Rinki Kumari… I have been voting before, and I am still voting. There are no house numbers in the village; my name is still on the voter list," a second clip showed a woman as saying.
As per the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer's office, a "notional house number" is an imaginary (symbolic) house number given when a voter's residence does not have an actual house number available.
"In many villages, slums or temporary settlements, houses do not have permanent house numbers. In such cases, the BLO physically visits the area and assigns a serial number (like 1, 2, 3…) to each house. This number is only for convenience in listing and to record voters in proper order. It is used for voter identification and to prepare the voter list in an orderly manner," it said.
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