In public hearing, many allege discrepancies in SIR process
A panel of six eminent citizens, including former Patna high court judge Anjana Prakash; economist Jean Dreze; former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah; former director of A N Sinha Institute D M Diwakar; social worker Bhanwar Meghvanshi and sociologist Nandini Sundar heard the people's views on the SIR.
The public hearing was jointly organised by Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, NAPM, Samar Charitable Trust, Swaraj Abhiyan and Kosi Navnirman Manch.
Many of the participants, including one Phool Kumari Devi from Katihar, alleged discrepancies and listed the problems they faced in submitting the enumeration forms for the purpose. Some said Aadhaar card and EPIC were demanded by the BLOs, though the Election Commission (EC) has excluded these documents for the voter verification purpose.
Many married women complained that they had difficulty in obtaining documents of their parents and discrepancies in demanding documents to prove their eligibility.
In many families, they complained that some members got the forms while some did not. Some of them said BLOs also took a copy of the bank passbook, though it was not required. Some said the BLOs were under tremendous pressure.
Justice (retd)
Anjana Prakash
said it is impossible for the people of rural Bihar to submit the documents being sought by the EC.
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Habibullah said the SIR process is neither according to the Constitution nor in accordance with the RTI Act. Dreze said the SIR should not be amended but repealed. "The ECI's own procedures have been violated many times. This will reduce the quality of the voter list and defeat the purpose," he said.
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