Guwahati, Nov 28: Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Gaurav Gogoi has called on the Election Commission (EC) to implement machine-readable electoral rolls for the upcoming assembly elections, including those in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry.

Speaking to reporters in Jorhat, Gogoi criticized the current manual system of updating voter lists by booth-level officers, calling it susceptible to fraud and manipulation. He noted that despite India’s technological capabilities, voter lists remain manually prepared, allowing the possibility of fake entries.

Gogoi referenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s repeated calls for technology-driven electoral rolls, which can prevent last-minute fraudulent entries that are difficult to detect after voting concludes.

He urged the Chief Election Commissioner to explain why machine-readable voter lists, already successfully used in other democracies, have not been implemented in India. Gogoi demanded fully digitized, centrally managed voter rolls for all upcoming elections, along with a strict audit trail of all changes made to the rolls after the draft stage.

“Ensuring every vote is cast by a genuine citizen is the primary duty of any constitutional authority. Machine-readable voter lists are essential to protect Indian democracy from erosion,” Gogoi said, stressing the importance of electoral integrity.