‘Votebandi’ will destroy democracy: INDIA bloc raises alarm over Bihar electoral roll revision move

Representatives of the opposition INDIA bloc met the Election Commission of India on July 2 to raise concerns over the timing of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar. They alleged that the massive exercise could disenfranchise over two crore voters in the poll-bound state.

Leaders from 11 parties, including the Congress, RJD, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, NCP-SP, and the Samajwadi Party, objected to the special revision exercise of the voters’ list that began in Bihar about a week ago before Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and other election commissioners.

“After meeting the Election Commission, our concerns have increased further because the Commission did not give a satisfactory reply to any of our questions,” CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, who went on to call the process ‘votebandi’, said.

The opposition parties, including the Congress, claimed that after the prime minister’s ‘notebandi’ (demonetisation) that “destroyed” the country’s economy, EC’s ‘Votebandi’ in Bihar will demolish India’s democracy.

“After the PM’s ‘notebandi’ of November 2016 destroyed our economy, ECI’s ‘VOTEBandi’ in Bihar and other states, as reflected in the SIR, will destroy our democracy,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.

When the delegation reached Nirvachan Sadan, the Election Commission’s office in New Delhi, it was told that only two members from each party would be allowed in.

“For the first time, we were given rules to enter the Election Commission (EC). For the first time, we were told only party chiefs can go. Such restrictions mean that necessary dialogue between political parties and the EC can’t happen… Today, only two people per party were allowed, which left leaders like Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Akhilesh Singh standing outside,” Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said outside EC office.

The INDIA bloc parties have been vocal in their opposition to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise that has already started in Bihar and is to be carried out in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, which are going to the polls next year.

Singhvi said a minimum of two crore people may be disenfranchised in this exercise as many, especially, the SCs, STs, migratory and impoverished, among the nearly eight crore voters in Bihar may not be in a position to present their and their parents’ birth certificates to the poll authorities in such a short period.

“We asked the EC that the last revision was in 2003, and for 22 years after 4-5 elections have happened, were all those elections faulty or imperfect or unreliable. The SIR was held one year before the general elections and two years before the assembly elections,” he said.

He said that in a maximum period of one or two months, the EC is holding an electoral revision exercise of India’s second most populous state, Bihar, which has roughly under eight crore voters.

“This disenfranchisement and disempowerment is the worst attack on the basic structure of the Constitution. We gave universal adult suffrage in 1950, when so-called advanced countries like the USA and the UK got it only in 1924 and 1928,” Singhvi said.

The Election Commission’s Version

EC sources said some of the participants were given an appointment and others were allowed to join in without any prior appointment, as the Commission decided to meet two representatives from every party.

The EC told them that SIR is being conducted in accordance with the provisions of Article 326, RP Act 1950, and instructions issued on June 24. The Commission also said it “fully addressed” each concern raised by the parties.

The poll panel has issued instructions to carry out a Special Intensive Revision in Bihar to weed out ineligible names and ensure all eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll, allowing them to exercise their franchise in the polls slated later this year.

The poll panel has said it has taken additional steps in the intensive revision to ensure illegal migrants do not get enrolled in the voters’ list.

The Special Intensive Revision in Bihar

Beginning 25 June, the Election Commission is holding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar. This means electoral rolls for Bihar will be prepared afresh.

The move sparked a political row, with the Congress opposing it, saying it risks the willful exclusion of voters using the state machinery. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the move “more dangerous than NRC (National Register of Citizens)” and alleged that her state, which heads to polls next year, was the real ‘target’.

In the process, the Booth Level Officers(BLOs) are conducting a house-to-house survey for verification during the process of this intensive revision.

In the previous special intensive revisions, BLOs would go house to house with an ‘enumeration pad’ to be filled by the head of a household.

Proof of citizenship

This time, however, each voter in a household will have to submit an individual enumeration form. Voters added to the electoral rolls after 1 January 2003 — the year of the last intensive revision — must provide proof of citizenship.

The Election Commission has uploaded the 2003 Bihar electoral roll, comprising details of 4.96 crore electors, on its website, the poll panel said on 30 June.

These 4.96 crore electors do not need to submit any documents, the poll panel said. It also said that the children of these 4.96 crore electors need not submit any other document relating to their parents.