No names can be deleted from draft rolls without due process: EC
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The Election Commission on Sunday asserted that no name can be deleted from the draft electoral roll of Bihar without following due process, including an order from the electoral registration officer (ERO).The EC underlined the due process involved in the exercise amid allegations by opposition parties that crores of eligible persons will lose their voting rights for want of documents due to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar.The poll panel said there will be no deletion from Draft Electoral Rolls without a "speaking order".A speaking order is a self-explanatory order that details the reasons for reaching a particular conclusion.According to SIR guidelines, no name can be deleted from the draft list published on August 1 without notice and a speaking order of the Electoral Registration Officers/Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (ERO/AERO), it said.Any elector aggrieved by any decision of the ERO can appeal to the District Magistrate and the Chief Electoral Officer thereafter.The final voter list will be published in the state on September 30.Assembly polls are due in Bihar later this year.
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Indian Express
4 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Bhasha Andolan From Tagore's Bolpur: Mamata hyphenates ‘SIR-linguistic terror', slams EC-BJP ‘bid to bring NRC through backdoor'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday hyphenated the issues of detention of Bangla-speaking migrants in several parts of the country with the Election Commission's plan to roll out the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across the country, including in poll-bound West Bengal, and accused the BJP and the EC of trying to implement the NRC in the country 'through the backdoor'. Launching her party's Bhasha Andolan (language movement) campaign from Bolpur – the karmabhoomi of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore – the TMC supremo alleged that the BJP-led Centre, in collusion with the EC, was targeting minorities, OBCs, the poor, and Bengali-speaking voters through the Special Summary Revision, to strike off genuine names from the voter list in a 'covert' NRC-like exercise. The chief minister, who took part in a 3-km march in Bolpur, holding a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore, asserted that she would not allow the setting up of detention centres in West Bengal and dared the EC to delete names of genuine voters, saying such 'steps would attract consequences'. 'If you (EC) dare delete names from Bengal's voter list, you will witness Chhau dance, dhamsa-madol, conch shells, cymbals, and war drums. Have you heard such sounds before? We will make you hear them,' she said. Accusing the EC of acting at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre, 'They (EC) are finalising the voters' list, while sitting in Gujarat. Gujaratis are not my enemies. The BJP's agency (EC) is doing this… They have already set up detention camps in Haryana and Assam. I will not allow NRC to be implemented in Bengal as long as I am alive. I won't allow detention camps to be built here… Have our Hindu brothers forgotten how 7 lakh names were removed in Assam? We want to say: 'Jo humse takrayega, choor choor ho jaayega' (Those who will collide with us will be shattered)'. 'The EC has come up with a new rule that the old list will no longer be used. Names must be re-entered from scratch. They are asking for the birth certificates of parents, too. Ask them if they themselves have their birth certificates. Those who are part of this conspiracy, do they have their documents in place?' she said. 'We will stop this conspiracy to jeopardise our existence in the name of linguistic terror and an attempt to implement NRC through the backdoor… The EC, with due respect, are you playing the government's NRC game?' she added. The TMC supremo declared she would 'give up her life but not her language', and vowed to stand against attempts to erase Bengali 'asmita' (pride), disenfranchise the poor, or drive out migrants under the guise of electoral roll revision. 'We have no enmity with any language. I believe that unity in diversity is the foundation of our nation. But if you try to erase our language and culture, we will resist peacefully, powerfully, and politically,' she said. In a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mamata said, 'When you travel to Arab nations and hug the sheikhs, do you ask whether they are Hindus or Muslims? Did you ask the Maldives President his religion before hugging him and donating Rs 5,000 crore, while depriving Bengal of its dues?' Stating that Bengali is the fifth-most spoken language in the world and the second-most spoken in Asia, Banerjee questioned the ongoing discrimination. 'Yet, Bengalis are being tortured across states. Why this hatred? If Bengal can accept and shelter 1.5 crore migrant workers from other states, why can't you accept 22 lakh Bengali migrants working elsewhere?' she asked. The Bolpur protest march was not just political; it was rich in emotion and symbolism. Banerjee wore her trademark white cotton sari and a traditional uttariya from Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan. Raising slogans of 'Joy Bangla' and 'Jai Hind' at the end of her speech, Banerjee urged TMC workers to spread the language movement. -With PTI Inputs from Bolpur Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
SIR in Bihar: Accept Aadhaar along with voter ID, SC tells EC
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
EC has become a BJP agent to implement NRC: Mamata Banerjee
KOLKATA/BOLPUR: Election Commission had become a "BJP agent to implement NRC", CM Mamata Banerjee alleged at the 'Bhasha Andolan' rally in Bolpur on Monday, and dared the poll body to delete any genuine Bengal voter from the electoral roll. At an administrative meeting, the CM also reminded booth level officers (BLOs) that they were state govt employees and "should not unnecessarily harass people". "Try deleting names here," Banerjee challenged the poll panel. "From chhau to dhol to dhamsa to shankha, sob bajiye debo. Damama bajiye debo," she said, sounding a battle call. The CM said she would not let anyone set up detention camps or implement NRC in Bengal as long as she lived. "I will have the power of the people with me, I will not need any weapons. Is the country their (BJP's) zamindari? The only zamindars are common people," she said. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Taking on EC, Banerjee said: "I respect the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and will humbly pay tribute to him with flowers like marigold, hibiscus and tuberose. I hope you stay well. But you have become an agent of govt to implement NRC." "You are saying they (BLOs) will go to a house once, they may or may not visit four times, it can even be on a single day. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like No annual fees for life UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo They may even choose not to go; then the name will be deleted... You were the principal secretary in the cooperative department of a central govt and you are now consulting the double-engine govt to remove names so that your friend, the double-engine govt, can win." Questioning the special intensive revision (SIR), the CM said, "Even EPIC, Aadhaar and land deeds will not be enough to keep your name on the list. For every voter of Bengal, four from Gujarat will get included. I even know which agency is doing this (on behalf of BJP). They are asking for fresh documents, including the birth certificate of parents. Do you have them yourself?" "Suppose a man goes on a trip for four days after staying for years in Bengal, will you remove his name? Is that possible?" she added. Advising district magistrates to "keep their eyes and ears open", the CM said: "District magistrates should be more vigilant. Often, I see them delegating responsibilities to subordinates. They took 1,000 people to Delhi for training. The district magistrates should have informed me or the chief secretary, but they did not." At an administrative meeting earlier in the day, Banerjee appealed to BLOs to not harass people. "I request BLOs to ensure that no one's name is omitted from the voter list. EC takes charge after the election dates are announced. Before and after that, the administrative responsibility lies with state govt. You work for state govt. Do not harass people unnecessarily," she said.
