His brother’s name is also missing from the draft rolls, though he has not been declared dead — perfect examples of ‘vote chori’, Mintu says. “In every ward, you’ll find five to ten people whose names have been deleted from the record, simply noted as ‘dead’.”

On 13 August, a group of seven ‘dead voters’—Ramikbal Ray, Harendra Ray, Lalmuni Devi, Vachiya Devi, Lalwati Devi, Punam Kumari and Munna Kumar — called on Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. They met over tea, after which the LoP posted on X: “There have been many interesting experiences in life, but I never got the chance to have tea with ‘dead people’. For this unique experience, thank you, Election Commission!”

These ‘living dead’ had been escorted to the national capital by the RJD. All are from Tejashwi Yadav’s constituency, Raghopur — in fact, from just two or three polling booths in the constituency. All had their names deleted, ostensibly because they were dead.

‘This is not a clerical error,’ read a statement issued by the Congress. ‘It is political disenfranchisement in plain sight.’ Living proof of ‘vote chori’, executed not through booth capturing but administrative erasure.

The number of people marked ‘untraceable’ is higher than those declared dead, says Shiv Prakash, a CPI-ML legislator from Arrah. “Many are alive and very much there in the constituency, but are now running from pillar to post to prove their identity. The ECI has just stamped them as ‘not traceable’ without any verification,” Prakash alleges. “These are poor people with no political clout or the resources to mount a legal challenge—they are the silent victims of this diabolical exercise.”