The tale of Minta Devi, the ‘124-year-old’ who has become the face of opposition’s protest at Parliament

Opposition MPs caught plenty of attention as they staged a protest with matching white T-shirts printed with the face of a woman named ‘Minta Devi’. On the back, the shirts carried the words “124, Not Out” in bold.

Several Opposition leaders, including Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, joined the protest at the Parliament complex on Tuesday, which targeted what they allege is “voter theft” linked to Election Commission's (EC) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar.

Minta Devi’s photograph, first shown by Rahul Gandhi during a presentation on alleged voter list manipulation, has quickly become a rallying image in the Opposition’s campaign.

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So, who is Minta Devi? What is her connection with the Opposition’s voter fraud allegations? Here’s a closer look at the story

Who is Minta Devi?

According to Election Commission records, Minta Devi is listed as a 124-year-old first-time voter in Bihar’s Daraundha Assembly seat, under the Siwan Lok Sabha constituency. Her polling station is recorded as the Kanya Utkramit Madhya Vidyalaya in Arjaanipur.

Her name surfaced in political debates soon after the EC completed its SIR of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state. Rahul Gandhi cited her case as part of what he alleges is a “fake” draft voter list, saying the Opposition’s T-shirts were worn to expose such irregularities.

Congress MP KC Venugopal took a sharp dig at the EC, saying, “The Election Commission has done a great service to humankind. They discovered the oldest living human, Minta Devi, whose age is listed as 124 years in the Bihar SIR. The mega voter fraud done by the EC can never be allowed. INDIA will keep protesting until it is stopped.”

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Congress leader Pawan Khera also joined and wrote on social media, “We proudly nominate Minta Devi for the Guinness World Record: the youngest looking oldest human in India – courtesy the several miracles of ECI.”

#WATCH | Delhi: INDIA bloc leaders continue to protest over the alleged voter fraud and SIR issues. MPs were seen wearing T-shirts featuring the name Minta Devi, a voter allegedly listed as 124 years old in the Election Commission's voter list. pic.twitter.com/LVhS3I5CZJ

— ANI (@ANI) August 12, 2025

For context, the BBC recently reported that the world’s oldest living person is Ethel Caterham of Surrey, England, who is 115 years old. In the EC records, Minta Devi’s birth date is July 15, 1900, making her nine years older than Caterham.

“This isn’t just a clerical error- it’s proof of mega voter fraud. INDIA will keep protesting until this is stopped,” said Congress MP Manickam Tagore.

NDTV had reported that it had traced Minta Devi in Bihar and found she had mistakenly written 1900 instead of 1990 as her year of birth on her voter registration form. That means, she is not 124 years old but 35.

Minta Devi. Age 124. Born 1900. Still voting in Modi’s ‘New India’. This isn’t an election — it’s a séance.#InternationalYouthDay2025
Minta Devi#ChunaavChori #VoteChori Assam pic.twitter.com/pNBBTQbQvu

— 𝘼𝙢𝙞𝙩 (@AmitYji127) August 12, 2025

At the Parliament protest asked about Minta Devi, Rahul replied: “Picture abhi baaki hai (There is more to come).”

While a poll body official told NDTV that her age was changed due to an error in her application form, there was no clear explanation for how such an error could survive an exercise meant to clean up the rolls.

Opposition protests ‘voter fraud’ in Bihar

Opposition MPs have stepped up their agitation against the revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls, accusing the EC of carrying out “vote chori” to “disenfranchise voters” ahead of the state assembly elections later this year.

The protest, staged in front of Parliament’s Makar Dwar, saw participation from senior Opposition leaders, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Derek O’Brien, TR Baalu, Mahua Moitra, and Supriya Sule. The leaders say the SIR of the voter list is riddled with irregularities.

According to the Election Commission, a voter named Minta Devi is aged 124 years!

The INDIA bloc MPS wore 'Minta Devi' t-shirts and protested against #VoteChori pic.twitter.com/1UonY3gx7W

— INC Andhra Pradesh (@INC_Andhra) August 12, 2025

The Election Commission has rejected these allegations, arguing that the revision is necessary because the SIR has not been conducted regularly since 2004. According to poll body officials, many “non-eligible persons” have obtained voter cards over the years, and some people,  knowingly or unknowingly, hold multiple voter IDs from different constituencies.

So far, the Commission has received 10,570 forms from individual electors seeking to add their names to the draft roll. The list remains open for claims and objections from the public and political parties until September 1.

The dispute has spilled over into Parliament. On Monday, proceedings were disrupted as Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and several other INDIA bloc MPs were detained during a march from Parliament to the Election Commission’s office.

Since the Monsoon session began on July 21, both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have struggled to carry out normal business, with the SIR row and discussions on Operation Sindoor dominating the agenda.

With input from agencies