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Scroll.in
5 days ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
CPI(ML) says it ‘physically verified' wrongful deletions in Bihar draft voter roll
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation on Saturday said that its workers had physically verified wrongful deletion of voters in some Assembly constituencies of Bihar amid the contentious exercise to revise the state's electoral rolls. The party is part of Bihar's Opposition alliance, which includes the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress. Two complaints that the party filed amid its verification exercise relate to the deletion of voters in villages that are predominantly Yadav, The Wire reported. The community is considered to be the support base of the former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal. The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation also found several voters from Dalit communities having been removed from the draft roll, according to The Wire. The special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar was announced by the Election Commission in June. As part of the exercise, persons whose names were not in the 2003 voter list needed to submit proof of eligibility to vote. The draft roll was published on August 1 ahead of the Bihar polls expected to take place in October or November. It showed that more than 65 lakh names had been deleted from the list. The list will be revised by September after the Election Commission assesses objections and claims about the exclusion and inclusion of voters in the draft roll. On Saturday, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation cited a complaint filed by Amit Kumar Paswan in booth number 152 (old) and 173 (new) in the Bahadurpur constituency as having alleged that the names of some voters in the Bandh Basti village had been deleted despite the persons being present there. Fifty-nine of the 818 voters in a booth were deleted from the draft roll. The names were removed 'without giving any reasons either to the people or to the BLAs [booth level agents]', the party alleged. The booth-level agents are appointed by political parties. 'Out of these 59 people, CPI(ML) teams on the ground have identified 20 such people living in the same booth, whose presence has been physically verified,' the party said. It claimed that two persons whose names were deleted – Motilal Yadav and Dhyani Yadav – were in the 2003 voter list. 'These people, whose names have been deleted, are being forced by ECI officials to get their names included in the draft by filling Form 6, which is meant for new voters,' the party said on social media. The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation said it has been raising the matter of persons whose names have been removed from the draft roll being forced to submit a new registration form, 'leaving no mechanism to file complaints' and allowing the Election Commission to claim that there have been zero complaints filed. The party demanded that the poll panel release the names of voters who had been removed from the draft roll, specifying the reason for the deletion in every panchayat. On Saturday, the Election Commission told the Supreme Court that it is not required under the rules to publish a list of persons excluded from Bihar's draft electoral roll. In an affidavit, the poll panel said that the rules do not require it to explain why a person's name is missing from the draft roll. The submission was made in response to a petition by the non-profit organisation Association for Democratic Reforms, which had sought a court directive for the poll panel to explain the reasons for deleting 65 lakh names from the draft electoral roll. Claims about objections While the Election Commission claimed that it has not yet received objections and claims from political parties pertaining to names having been wrongfully excluded or included from the draft roll, party workers have said that they have filed several complaints, The Hindu reported. According to the Election Commission, while it had received more than 8,300 claims from individual voters as of Sunday, there had been none from 1.6 lakh booth-level agents. But more than 46,500 Form 6 applications had been filed, the poll panel said. The newspaper quoted party workers as saying that when they flag the deletion of names of eligible voters through complaints, the electoral registration officers tell them to ask the voters to submit Form 6.
The Hindu
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Political parties say they have filed many claims and objections after Bihar draft roll, though ECI lists zero complaints
Even as the Election Commission maintains that no claims and objections have been filed by political parties over names wrongfully included or excluded in the draft electoral list in Bihar, political workers — including Booth Level Agents (BLA) on the ground — claim that they have filed many such complaints. In fact, party workers say that when they flag the deletion of names of eligible voters through these complaints, Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) tell them to ask voters to instead file Form 6, which is meant for first-time voter registrations. According to data furnished by the Election Commission of India on Saturday (August 9, 2025), zero claims have been filed by over 1.6 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLA) appointed by political parties, while 7,252 claims have been filed by individual voters. However, the Form 6 applications are pouring in, with 43,123 having been filed so far. DATA | Analysis of Bihar SIR electoral rolls hints at higher voter deletions in Muslim-majority districts Counter-signed complaints The Hindu spoke to a number of BLAs from Opposition parties who said that they had filed claims and objections on plain paper and got them counter-signed by EROs and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) as receipts. The ECI, however, has not registered these as complaints. 'I have filed a complaint regarding the deletion of 20 names in Bahadurpur Assembly Segment in Darbhanga with the BLO, who is supposed to forward it to the District Magistrate,' Amit Kumar Paswan, a BLA of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), told The Hindu. Mr. Paswan said the BLO had counter-signed his complaint as a receipt in duplicate, and his party later forwarded it to the District Magistrate as well. A copy seen by The Hindu shows that the complaint was written on plain paper and not in any specified format or form or with the party letterhead. Similarly, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Mukund Singh, who is leading a team filing claims and objections after the SIR, said that her party has filed many complaints. She was clueless about why they were not being registered in the ECI data though they have been counter-signed as receipts by the officials responsible. Also Read | Supreme Court seeks ECI's response to plea seeking individual reasons for deleting 65 lakh voters from Bihar draft electoral roll Unclear format According to the Rules of Electoral Registration 1960, Form 7 has to be filed to challenge the addition of names or seek the deletion of names, Form 6 for first time registration, and Form 8 for changes in the particulars of a voter in the draft rolls. It was not clear whether there is a specific format or form which the BLA is expected to use to raise claims and objections, though the Handbook on Electoral Registration does give BLAs a specific format to seek the addition and deletion of names. A senior ECI official in Delhi, who did not wish to be named, said no claims and objections can be accepted if they are not in proper format. Also Read | Absurd to link SIR in Bihar with Tamil Nadu, says Election Commission 'ECI pushing for Form 6 instead' RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari, however, accused the ECI of trying to 'spread confusion', saying that if a voter's name if deleted then there is no specific provision to challenge it and Form 6 is the only recourse available to get back into the electoral list. 'ECI is running away from its responsibility. It is saying no party has filed complaints, but the fact is that many complaints have been filed,' he added. Why has Bihar's SIR caused a stir in Tamil Nadu? In a statement on Saturday (August 9, 2025), the CPI (ML) also said that despite filing complaints with district and State officials, the 'complaints' column in the ECI's daily bulletins fail to record these numbers. It added that people whose names have been deleted in the draft roll are being forced by ECI officials to get their names restored by filling Form 6, which is meant for new voters. 'CPI (ML) has been repeatedly raising this issue of how Form 6 is being forced on people whose votes have been deleted, leaving no mechanism to file complaints and thereby allowing the ECI to issue daily press releases showing zero complaints filed,' it said.
