NDA ally TDP echoes Opposition's concerns over Bihar electoral roll, asks poll body to 'clearly define' contours
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Time of India
15 minutes ago
- Time of India
The voter & the commission
Nandita Sengupta is a senior editor with The Times of India. Her blog aims to be mainly about all matters women, which includes men on occasion. Share your ideas with her on and please keep comments and feedback civil. LESS ... MORE TDP wants EC to clarify that its countrywide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is 'not related to citizenship verification'. As Supreme Court asked EC last week, 'why are you getting into' deciding citizenship. EC's initial insistence on birth certificates for those enrolled after 2003 was based on Vajpayee NDA's Citizenship Amendment Act 2003 – those born after 1987 and before 2004 must show one parent is an Indian citizen. Those born after 2004 must prove both parents are citizens. Many poor and internal migrants, including minorities, aren't able to produce such documents. Read full story on TOI+ Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Indian Express
15 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Bihar electoral roll revision is an exercise in exclusion
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched a sweeping Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. Though presented as a legitimate administrative effort to update voter data ahead of the Assembly elections, the move has drawn criticism and legal challenges. The ECI has initiated door-to-door verification of voter records across the state, demanding submission of multiple documents including personal and parental proof of age and residence, particularly for those born after 2003. While the stated purpose is to remove inaccuracies and eliminate ineligible voters, the exercise stands out for its timing and the implications for already vulnerable populations. Bihar has one of the highest concentrations of working people and marginalised communities in the country, many of whom are under-documented and live in conditions that make it impossible to maintain consistent paper trails. For migrant workers, Dalits, Adivasis and the rural poor, furnishing documents that prove not just their own eligibility but that of their parents within a month's notice is an almost insurmountable challenge. These groups now face the prospect of disenfranchisement, not due to fraud or manipulation but due to systemic inequality and administrative insensitivity. The scale and pace of this process, during the monsoon season and across difficult terrain, virtually guarantees errors and exclusions. This fear was echoed in the Supreme Court when a judge observed that even someone of his stature would struggle to produce the kind of documentation now being demanded. This observation from the judiciary came during the ongoing hearings on the constitutional validity and timing of the SIR. The author of this article is also a petitioner before the Supreme Court, part of a collective legal challenge to the SIR by 10 Opposition parties. The Court has taken note of our apprehensions and has asked pointed questions to the ECI, including on the timing of the exercise. Further, the Court has also asked the ECI to consider other documents like Aadhaar cards, ration cards and the EPIC, which is issued by the ECI itself, for the SIR. The very fact that the judiciary had to intervene in an exercise that should have been routine and inclusive is a troubling sign. What makes this exercise even more suspect is its political context. The BJP, which has ruled at the Centre for over a decade and has all but eclipsed other parties in Bihar's ruling alliance, has continuously devised new methods to retain power in politically crucial states like Bihar. Whether through orchestrated defections, covert encouragement of splinter groups, or manipulation of alliances, the BJP has shown an unwillingness to respect electoral uncertainty. With its position weakening in Bihar and the Opposition Mahagathbandhan gaining strength, the SIR appears to be the newest instrument in this playbook. The demand for complex documentation will disproportionately affect voters who are less likely to support the BJP, the poor, Dalits, minorities and migrant workers. What is being portrayed as a neutral administrative measure is, in fact, deeply political. While the ECI has defended the process as constitutionally mandated and necessary under the Representation of the People Act, these claims do not hold up to scrutiny. No such intensive revision was undertaken in other states that recently went to the polls. The electoral rolls in Bihar had already been updated for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. A limited update to include new eligible voters would have sufficed. The ECI is yet to offer a clear explanation for the surge in the number of voters before the Maharashtra elections. This selective use of revisions raises questions about whether these exercises are being conducted impartially. Most tellingly, BJP spokespersons have been far more enthusiastic in defending the SIR than the ECI itself. This creates the impression that the ECI, while formally neutral, is presiding over an exercise whose political consequences are highly skewed. This perception has been strengthened by recent changes in the appointment process of Election Commissioners. The Union government now holds the sole authority to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner and other Commissioners, a move that weakens the structural independence of the institution. In public forums and press interactions, the ECI has failed to assert its autonomy with the kind of firmness shown in the past. It is worth recalling that former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan deliberately stopped using the term 'Government of India' in Commission communication to underline its institutional independence from the Executive. Today, such symbolic and substantive measures are largely absent, and public confidence in the Commission's impartiality is eroding as a result. The timing of the Bihar revision is particularly telling. With only months to go before the announcement of elections, lakhs of voters are now scrambling to confirm their inclusion on the rolls. Many face uncertainty, confusion and fear. In a democracy, no citizen should be in doubt about their right to vote. Yet in Bihar today, this doubt has been manufactured, not resolved, by the very institution meant to protect electoral rights. The revision has come as a shock to voters who had already voted in the 2024 general elections and are being asked to once again prove their eligibility. The burden of proof has unfairly shifted to the citizen, and the consequences will likely be felt most by those already marginalised by the system. The right to vote for an eligible citizen is not a privilege that should be filtered through bureaucratic red tape. It is a right and any attempt to limit it under the pretext of administrative reform must be challenged firmly and decisively. The people of Bihar are no strangers to struggle, and this latest battle must be fought not just at the doors of the Court but at the doorsteps of every citizen. The writer is general secretary, CPI
Indian Express
15 minutes ago
- Indian Express
EC's SIR in Bihar should serve as a template for other states
As the special drive launched in Bihar by the Election Commission of India to rid the electoral rolls of all errors enters its fourth week, some positives are already visible. The booth-level officers (BLOs), who have fanned out across the state to distribute and collect the enumeration forms, while moving around from one house to another in the areas covered by their respective booths, have found that 1.59 per cent of voters had died in the intervening period. This translates to a whopping 12.5 lakh electors. Another 2.2 per cent, whose names appeared on the voter list, had migrated to other states. This amounts to 17.5 lakh voters in a state with a total voter base of 7.90 crore. As many as 5.5 lakh voters, or 0.73 per cent, had their names appearing at two places in the electoral roll. The voters of Bihar, it is clear, have given their thumbs-up to the drive, and delivered a snub to the parties that have been trying to create doubts about the ECI's decision to go in for a 'Special Intensive Revision (SIR)'' of the electoral roll. This could be deduced from the fact that the BLOs had, till July 15, succeeded in disbursing enumeration forms to 88.18 per cent of the voters. Of these, 83.66 per cent had submitted their filled-up forms to the BLOs. By the time the first phase of the SIR draws to a close, it is estimated that almost all bona fide citizens of the state will have been covered. It follows that the names of people who fail to provide any citizenship proof will have to be deleted from the electoral roll. As reported widely in the media, the Election Commission, during the course of its drive to collect filled-up enumeration forms, stumbled upon several illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar. They had, over a period of time, somehow found their way into the voter list, despite the fact that they had failed to submit any citizenship proof. Former Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal, the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, while speaking to newspersons in Patna on July 9, laid threadbare the conspiracy launched by the Opposition parties to shore up their fortunes in the districts close to Bangladesh by demanding the inclusion of Aadhaar as proof of citizenship. 'In Kishanganj district, the number of Aadhaar cards in circulation is an impossible 105 per cent. In neighbouring Araria, the figure is marginally lower at 103 per cent. It is clear that a whole lot of illegal Rohingyas and Bangladeshis have succeeded in laying their hands on Aadhaar cards,'' he pointed out. He also alleged that since June 25, when the SIR was rolled out in Bihar, there had been a scramble among the people of Kishanganj to procure proofs of residence. 'As many as 2.27 lakh people had filled up forms for address proofs. This amounts to 27 per cent of the district's population. How is this possible? It is evident that the people behind this are Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, who want to smuggle their way into the voter list,'' the BJP leader said. The election watchdog needs to be lauded for deciding to go in for electoral roll revision in the state on such a massive scale. Its success should serve as a template for similar campaigns in other states. In embarking on the SIR, the ECI is working strictly according to the mandate bestowed upon it by Article 324 of the Constitution of India and Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, along with other provisions of the latter. In keeping with this, it asked the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)/District Election Officer to aid the ERO to fulfil the Constitutional mandate that 'every eligible person, as per Article 326 of the Constitution of India, read with Section 16 and 19 of the RPA, 1950, is enrolled as an elector'. The circular issued by the ECI on June 24, 2025, clearly mentioned that 'while carrying out the SIR of the electoral rolls, the ERO (Electoral Registration Officer) of each Assembly constituency shall be responsible for ensuring that no eligible citizen is left out, while no ineligible person is included in the electoral roll'. This is not the first time that the ECI is undertaking such an exercise. It has done so several times in the past, across the country, or in individual states. In Bihar, the revision of electoral rolls on such a massive scale took place way back in 2003, when the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was at the helm in the state. The BJP and the NDA, in keeping with their resolve to play the role of a constructive Opposition, had offered full support to the SIR. Contrast this with the conduct of the Opposition parties in the state now. In an attempt to whip up popular frenzy and communal tension, the RJD-Congress-Left combine organised a bandh across the state on July 10. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi put in a token appearance during the protest march in Patna, held a day before the Supreme Court's hearing on a clutch of petitions against the SIR. The bandh failed to elicit any response in the state. The Opposition's attempts to erect roadblocks in the path of the SIR received a further setback when the Supreme Court declined to put a stay on the electoral roll revision. The SIR has built-in checks. The draft electoral roll will be unveiled on August 1. Individuals, civil society organisations and political parties will then get a full month's time to submit their objections. When it comes to matters of national security and interest, the Opposition parties should shun their narrow and parochial agendas and rise to the occasion. They have clearly failed the people of India. The writer is Member of Legislative Council in Bihar, and prabhari of Mizoram BJP
