SIR and the sanctity of electoral democracy
Universal adult franchise is the centrepiece of Indian democracy. Election is mostly the only occasion when the small man in India gains a voice. The vote is the only weapon he has at hand to enforce accountability in governance. ECI's mandate is to protect it, not raise hurdles to deny citizens the right to vote. Its stubborn stance against the inclusion of Aadhaar, election identity card (EPIC), ration card etc., in the list of 11 documents acceptable for inclusion in the electoral roll on the ground that these can be easily forged was called out by the court — the judges said the EPIC, for instance, has a 'presumption of correctness'.
The spectre of infiltration, built around threat-narratives about infiltration by Bangladeshis and Rohingyas, is invoked to justify SIR. ECI would be on a self-defeating trip if the revision leads to the invalidation of the ballot rights of millions of voters, which, in spirit, is a negation of their citizenship. After the first phase of SIR, Bihar, a state with a relatively high birth rate, saw its electorate shrink. This is ominous. ECI needs to tread carefully on SIR, in Bihar and elsewhere.
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