A clerical blunder in the Election Commission’s draft voter list has turned 35-year-old Minta Devi of Bihar into a political flashpoint, after she was mistakenly recorded as being 124 years old. Opposition MPs seized on the error, staging a protest in Parliament wearing T-shirts with her name and the slogan “124 Not Out” — but the woman at the centre of the controversy says she is more amused than angry.
“The Election Commission has made me a grandma,” Minta Devi said with a laugh. “I had stated my year of birth as 1990, the same as in my Aadhaar card. I cannot help it if in the draft rolls 1990 has been made 1900.”
A resident of Arjainipur village in Siwan district, Minta Devi is a first-time voter whose name appears under Booth No. 94 in the Daraundha Assembly segment. The draft roll not only listed her as born in 1900, but also replaced her house number with her husband’s name.
She says the error is not her fault: “How can I be blamed for the goof-up? I had filled up my enumeration form online, after having waited in vain for a visit by the booth-level officer.”
Despite the mix-up, she sees a silver lining: “I am thrilled that, finally, at the age of 35, I may get a chance to cast my vote. Many polls have passed since I became eligible, but somehow my name never made it to the voters’ list. If the EC has made me a grandma in the process, it is fine with me. I have nothing to fear.”
The Siwan district administration says the issue is already being fixed. “An application was obtained from Minta Devi on August 10 for rectifying the error… It will be dealt with during the claims and objections phase,” officials said.
The error, however, quickly became political theatre. Led by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, INDIA bloc MPs including Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge donned the “124 Not Out” T-shirts inside Parliament, accusing the Election Commission of aiding the BJP in what they described as “vote chori” (vote theft). Rahul Gandhi alleged that Minta Devi’s case was not unique and claimed there were “unlimited” similar discrepancies in the electoral rolls.
