'Democracy murdered': Delhi police detains opposition MPs on protest against Bihar SIR, vote theft
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First Post
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The tale of Minta Devi, the ‘124-year-old' who has become the face of opposition's protest at Parliament
Several Opposition MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, protested the alleged 'voter theft' linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar at the Parliament complex on Tuesday. What caught the eye was that the leaders wore white T-shirts bearing the face of Minta Devi, a 35-year-old woman listed as a 124-year-old in the draft voter roll read more 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. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 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. 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. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other INDIA bloc members protest at the Parliament complex, wearing t-shirts that read '124 NOT OUT' after a voter, Minta Devi, allegedly listed as a 124-year-old, was seen on the electoral roll. (Instagram/ @incindia) 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.' 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. — ANI (@ANI) August 12, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 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 — 𝘼𝙢𝙞𝙩 (@AmitYji127) August 12, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 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. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 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 — 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. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 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
News18
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- News18
SIR appears to be trust deficit issue: SC
Agency: Last Updated: August 12, 2025, 18:00 IST Representational image (Image: News18) New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday called the Bihar special intensive revision (SIR) row 'largely a trust deficit issue" as the Election Commission of India (ECI) claimed roughly 6.5 crore people of the total 7.9 crore voting population didn't have to file any documents for they or their parents featured in the 2003 electoral roll. The top court is hearing a batch of pleas against the Election Commission electoral roll revision exercise in Bihar. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi during the hearing remarked it 'largely appears to be a case of trust deficit, nothing else" as it questioned the petitioners challenging the EC's June 24 decision of conducting the SIR on the ground that it would disenfranchise one crore voters. 'If out of 7.9 crore voters, 7.24 crore voters responded to the SIR, it demolishes theory of one crore voters missing or disenfranchised," the bench told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for petitioner and RJD leader Manoj Jha. The top court also agreed with the EC decision to not accept Aadhaar and voter cards as conclusive proof of citizenship in the ongoing exercise and said it has to be supported by other documents. Sibal contended that despite residents holding Aadhaar, ration and EPIC cards, officials refused to accept the documents. 'Is it your argument that people who have no documents but are in Bihar and therefore he should be considered as a voter of the state. That can be allowed. He has to show or submit some documents (sic)," the bench said. When Sibal said people were struggling to find birth certificates and other documents of their parents, Justice Kant said, 'It is a very sweeping statement that in Bihar nobody has the documents. If this happens in Bihar, then what will happen in other parts of the country?" Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi and advocate Prashant Bhushan, who were representing different political parties, also questioned the timeline for the completion of the exercise and the data of 65 lakh voters who were declared as dead or migrated or registered in other constituencies. Political activist Yogendra Yadav, who addressed the court in person, questioned the data given by the poll panel and said instead of 7.9 crore voters there was total adult population of 8.18 crore and the design of SIR exercise was to delete the voters. 'They (EC) were not able to find any individual whose name was added and the booth level officers visited house to house for deletion of names," Yadav said, calling it a case of 'total disenfranchisement". Sibal during the hearing said while in one constituency, contrary to the poll panel's claims, 12 people declared dead were found alive, in another instance alive persons were declared dead. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the poll panel, said the exercise of such a nature was 'bound to have some defects here and there at the draft stage" and to claim dead persons were declared alive and alive as dead could always be corrected as it was only a draft roll. The bench in the beginning of the hearing told the ECI to 'be ready" with facts and figures for it would be question over the number of voters before the exercise commenced; number of dead before and now aside from other relevant details. The hearing would resume on Wednesday. On July 29, terming the election commission a constitutional authority deemed to act in accordance with law, the top court said it will step in immediately if there is 'mass exclusion" in the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar. The draft roll was published on August 1 and the final roll is scheduled to be published on September 30 amid opposition claims that the ongoing exercise will deprive crores of eligible citizens from their right to vote. On July 10, the top court asked the EC to consider Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards as valid documents as it allowed the poll panel to continue with its exercise in Bihar. The EC affidavit has justified its ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, saying it adds to the purity of the election by 'weeding out ineligible persons" from the electoral rolls. Swipe Left For Next Video View all Beside RJD MP Jha and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, Congress' K C Venugopal, Supriya Sule from the Sharad Pawar NCP faction, D Raja from Communist Party of India, Harinder Singh Malik from Samajwadi Party, Arvind Sawant from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), Sarfraz Ahmed from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI (ML) have jointly moved the top court challenging the June 24 decision of the election commission. Several other civil society organisations like PUCL, NGO Association of Democratic Reforms and activists like Yogendra Yadav have moved the top court against the EC order. PTI MNL MNL AMK AMK (This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - PTI) view comments News agency-feeds SIR appears to be trust deficit issue: SC Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. 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The Hindu
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- The Hindu
Top news of the day: Lok Sabha Speaker sets in motion the process to remove Justice Yashwant Varma; petitioners argue ECI does not have the authority to determine citizenship, and more
Lok Sabha Speaker sets in motion the process to remove Allahabad High Court Justice Yashwant Varma Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday (August 12, 2025) set in motion the process of removing Justice Yashwant Varma of Allahabad High Court by admitting a motion, signed by 146 members, and constituting a three member inquiry committee to probe the charges against Justice Varma. Petitioners argue ECI does not have the authority to determine citizenship The Supreme Court heard a batch of petitions challenging the Election Commission of India's (ECI) order to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar. In the previous hearing, a Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi cautioned the poll body that the court would 'not hesitate to act' if the revised list reflected 'mass exclusions.' The petitioners have criticised the SIR process as a form of 'citizenship screening.' Retail inflation in July slips to 8-year low of 1.55% Retail inflation slipped to an eight-year low of 1.55% in July mainly due to subdued prices of food items, including vegetables and cereals, according to government data released on Tuesday (August 12, 2025). The consumer price index (CPI) based inflation was 2.1% in June and 3.6% in July 2024. The July 2025 inflation is the lowest since June 2017 when it was at 1.46%. Centre has not transferred ₹3.69 lakh crore of cess collections to the designated funds, CAG finds As of 2023-24, the Central Government has failed to transfer ₹3.69 lakh crore worth of cess collections to the relevant funds for which the cess was implemented, the Comptroller and Auditor General has found. A cess is a levy over and above a tax and has to be used for a particular purpose. These short allocations date back to cesses imposed in 1974 and thus show lapses across governments. 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