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Time of India
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Opposition senses ‘opportunity' in electoral roll revision, frequently rakes up issue
Patna: During the 2020 , the opposition Grand Alliance (GA) missed forming the govt by a whisker. Five years later, the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being conducted by the Election Commission ahead of the polls in the state has come as a blessing in disguise for GA, feel poll analysts. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now GA is armed with a prominent issue that is supposedly causing confusion among electors, they said. Cashing in on the 'opportunity', leader of opposition in the state assembly, , along with INDIA bloc allies, is raking up the concerns of voters almost daily. So far, he has held around six press conferences over the issue, indicating the significance of the issue, while the NDA has held none. The opposition is finding it a major opportunity to reach out to a large number of voter, cashing in on the anger gripping them. "First, your name will be deleted from the voter list, and in due course, you will lose benefits from all welfare schemes that you might be getting now, one by one," Tejashwi has repeatedly warned at press conferences. Explaining how the deletion of names of the voter proves disastrous for the poor, RJD spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan said on Tuesday: "Deletion of names from the voter list means losing every govt facility." He said the biggest loss the people could face is not getting 5 kg free ration. Of the total population of 10.41 crore, as per the 2011 census, the total number of beneficiaries under the Centre-sponsored Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana in Bihar is around 8.71 crore, which comes to 84% of the total population. They will also not be getting houses under PM Awas Yojana, pension and other such facilities. Social scientist B N Prasad said the EC has launched such a big campaign, but the methodology remains unclear. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "It is not clear if the BLOs are visiting door to door to deliver/collect enumeration forms. No BLO has visited my home so far. Also, the voices coming from the grassroots do not appear fair or accurate," Prasad, who works with the AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, told the TOI. "This is a theatre of the absurd," said former principal of Patna College, N K Chaudhary, while reacting to the opposition's hullabaloo over the SIR issue. "But EC should have given more time and increased the number of documents required to be submitted with the filled-up enumeration forms," he said. The opposition has found a potent issue—much like in the 2015 Bihar polls, when NDA's lead crumbled after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat called for a review of the reservation policy. RJD chief Lalu Prasad turned it into an 'opportunity', warning voters that the RSS-BJP aimed to dismantle the quota system.
Time of India
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Opposition welcomes SC observations
Patna: Hours after the Supreme Court advised the Election Commission (EC) to consider Aadhaar , voter ID and other documents during the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the opposition targeted the poll body, claiming it had been "exposed". Speaking to the reporters on Thursday, leader of the opposition in state assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, accused the EC of acting like a "BJP cell" and failing to clarify procedures despite repeated demands. "The EC is creating confusion and not issuing any clarification. Why hasn't the EC held a press conference to address the concerns troubling common voters?" he asked. RJD spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan said they had been demanding inclusion of Aadhaar, voter ID, and ration cards as valid documents from the start. "Those who planned to delete the names of the poor, Dalits, backwards, extremely backwards, and minorities from the electoral rolls will be shocked by the Supreme Court's observations," he said in a statement. CPI-ML general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya added that the court's remarks validated widespread concerns. "Most voters are complaining they haven't received any acknowledgement after submitting enumeration forms. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like She Took 1 Teaspoon Before Bed – Her Belly Was Gone in a Week Hollywood News | USA Click Here Undo While the EC cites statistics to show smooth progress, voters have no proof of submission," he said. He warned that migrant workers, including those working abroad or currently away due to emergencies, are particularly at risk of disenfranchisement. "Their inability to submit forms may threaten their voting rights and, by extension, their citizenship," he added.
The Hindu
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Bihar Election 2025: ECI's SIR Exercise Triggers Voter Exclusion Fears
Published : Jul 05, 2025 11:29 IST - 6 MINS READ On June 24, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced it would carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar, barely four months before the Assembly election. The exercise was rolled out the next day. Bihar has 7.9 crore voters. The ECI said 4.96 crore electors, whose names figured in the electoral rolls after the last intensive revision on January 1, 2003, have to fill up and submit the enumeration form. The remaining 2.93 crore voters will have to submit documents to establish their eligibility, and of these, those born after 1987 will have to provide documents for their parents. However, if the parents of such voters figured in the 2003 roll, the relevant extract of the list will suffice. The 19-page letter that the ECI sent to the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar on June 24 included a three-page order for the SIR and detailed guidelines for the exercise. The enumeration forms have to be submitted by July 25, and only the names of those people whose forms are received by that date will figure in the draft electoral roll to be published on August 1. This would be followed by the verification of the documents submitted, and claims and objections can be filed between August 1 and September 1. The final electoral roll will be made public on September 30. Also Read | Legal yet lawless: Assam's new wave of deportations follows a long tradition of expulsion politics The intensive revision is being carried out in Bihar after a gap of over 20 years. An intensive revision of electoral rolls for all or some parts of the country was undertaken in the years 1952-56, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1983-84, 1987-89, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003, and 2004. The Bihar SIR has led to considerable disquiet. Chitranjan Gagan, spokesperson of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, said: 'The SIR is a conspiracy to deprive Dalits, backward classes, extremely backward classes, and minorities of their right to vote. There are lakhs of families which do not have the documents listed for the SIR. They will be out of the electoral roll.' The Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in neighbouring West Bengal, which is scheduled to go to the polls in 2026, has questioned the intent behind the SIR. The party alleged that West Bengal is the real target of the exercise. It has also described the SIR as a 'sinister move' to bring the National Register of Citizens (NRC) through the back door since the voters will have to prove their citizenship. Jagdeep S. Chhokar, founding member and trustee of Association for Democratic Reforms, said the SIR could result in disenfranchisement of a large number of people. 'The ECI has listed 11 documents in its SIR guidelines. One of them is the birth certificate and the other ten also perform the same function as the birth certificate. In Bihar, a large number of people would not have any of these documents. Interestingly, Aadhaar is not there in the list, while many people have it,' Chhokar said. He described migration as 'the elephant in the room' since a huge number of people have migrated out of the State to earn a living and could get excluded from the roll. 'The ECI said that enumeration forms are available on the commission's website from where voters can download them. We cannot expect a construction worker in Delhi or an agricultural labourer in Punjab to download the form,' he said. According to an analysis by the researcher Rahul Shastri of Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, which was published in The Hindu on July 1, an estimated 1.76 crore people migrated out of Bihar between 2003 and 2024. With regard to documentary proof to be provided by voters, he said it would not be a simple affair in a document-scarce State like Bihar where just 2.8 per cent of the people born between 2001 and 2005 have a birth certificate. The story with regard to other documents is the same. Chhokar also said the SIR appears to have been initiated in a great hurry. 'The order for the SIR is issued on June 24, and it is rolled out on June 25. How can tasks such as printing of forms and training of Booth Level Officers [BLOs] be conducted in such a short period of time?' he wondered. The SIR, he added, deviates from electoral laws with regard to deletion of names from the roll and the criteria for registration as a voter. He said the revision could be challenged in the court over the alleged violation of law. However, the ECI insisted that the process being followed is simple and in keeping with constitutional provisions. It added that it has the constitutional obligation to ensure that only people who are citizens are included in the electoral roll. It further said in its June 24 order that since the last SIR was conducted, the electoral roll has changed significantly due to large-scale additions and deletions. It said rapid urbanisation and frequent migration of people for education, livelihood, and other reasons have become a regular trend, leading to increased possibility of repeated entries in the voters' list. The ECI claimed that it is well prepared to carry out the SIR with 77,895 BLOs already on the ground. It is also appointing 20,603 more for new polling stations. As per the commission, political parties have appointed more than 1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) who will work in coordination with the BLOs. According to the former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) O.P. Rawat, taking into account the 2003 cut-off date, at every polling booth with a maximum of around 1,200 voters, the BLOs and the BLAs will have to focus on verification of around 400-450 people. Also Read | Raising a finger against the ECI 'Political parties are saying that the BLO can be manipulated. But the BLO is not empowered to decide on inclusion or deletion of voters. They will submit the forms and the documents to the Electoral Registration Officers [ERO] who will have the power to include or not include. The ERO is a Deputy Commissioner, Class II level gazetted officer. There is also a provision for appeal if the documents are rejected,' he said. Former CEC T.S. Krishnamurthy, under whose tenure the last SIR took place in 2004, said the Bihar SIR is unlike those carried out in the past. As per the ECI's 2024 manual on electoral rolls, during the SIR, enumerators were sent for house-to-house verification with a working copy containing details of existing voters and a blank space provided to either amend the existing information or capture newly eligible people. Krishnamurthy, however, said the Bihar SIR is in response to the changed circumstances. 'In the recent past, questions have been raised about the credibility of the electoral roll. The SIR is meant to clean up the electoral roll,' he said. Responding to the argument that the exercise could end up being a de facto NRC, he said: 'The purpose of the electoral roll is to ensure that only those who are eligible to vote are there, that they are citizens of India and are above 18 years of age. Political parties should have no problem if non-citizens are weeded out.' It remains to be seen whether the SIR will redeem the ECI's image by providing a template for a foolproof electoral roll or ends up a recipe for disaster.
Time of India
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Opp opposes special intensive revision of electoral rolls
Patna: INDIA bloc on Wednesday strongly opposed the Election Commission's (EC) move to conduct a special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, alleging this was part of a larger conspiracy to deny a large number of poor electorate the opportunity to vote. They said completing the daunting task in such a short period was just "impossible." The assembly elections in the state are scheduled to be held in the year end. The opposition opposed the EC's decision at a meeting of the representatives of all political parties with the chief electoral officer on Wednesday. The SIR began on Wednesday with the BLOs collecting enumeration forms from the public along with the required documents, while the draft electoral roll will be published on Aug 1. People will have one month to file claims and objections, as per the information provided by the EC. Participating in the meeting, RJD representative Chitranjan Gagan said it was impractical to conduct a SIR in such a short time when the assembly elections are drawing closer. Drawing the ECI's attention, he said, during this revision, certain documents are required to include voters' names in the electoral roll, while there are lakhs of families who are unlikely to have these documents available. "The idea is nothing but a deliberate conspiracy to deprive lakhs of poor people in Bihar of their voting rights," Gagan alleged, questioning why the SIR was made mandatory just before the Bihar assembly elections when this was not conducted in the past 22 years. Rejecting the idea outright, the CPI-ML, a key ally of the INDIA bloc, likened the SIR to the NRC process. "This could result in the exclusion of the names of lakhs of people from marginalised communities from the voter list," the CPI-ML leaders said, adding why such an exercise is being conducted when a little over three months are left before the election announcement. They said according to the EC's new guidelines, individuals born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must provide proof that either their mother or father is an Indian citizen, and those born after July 2, 2004, must prove that both parents are citizens, and the entire process needs to be completed within just one month. "The idea would turn out to be an exercise on the pattern of the preparation of the national register of citizens (NRC) in Assam, when people were asked to furnish relevant documents as proof for their enumeration and enlisting as citizens," CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said on Wednesday. "The EC's exercise would result in delisting of a large number of people from the electoral roll, especially the poor, dalits, adivasis, and those belonging to the Muslim community," Bhattacharya alleged. The Congress said they were very much alert and have taken a lesson from the Maharashtra polls. "We are keeping a close watch on the situation," Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathore said. Patna: INDIA bloc on Wednesday strongly opposed the Election Commission's (EC) move to conduct a special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, alleging this was part of a larger conspiracy to deny a large number of poor electorate the opportunity to vote. They said completing the daunting task in such a short period was just "impossible." The assembly elections in the state are scheduled to be held either in Oct or Nov this year. The opposition opposed the EC's decision at a meeting of the representatives of all political parties with the chief electoral officer on Wednesday. The SIR began on Wednesday with the BLOs collecting enumeration forms from the public along with the required documents, while the draft electoral roll will be published on Aug 1. People will have one month to file claims and objections, as per the information provided by the EC. Participating in the meeting, RJD representative Chitranjan Gagan said it was impractical to conduct a SIR in such a short time when the assembly elections are drawing closer. Drawing the ECI's attention, he said, during this revision, certain documents are required to include voters' names in the electoral roll, while there are lakhs of families who are unlikely to have these documents available. "The idea is nothing but a deliberate conspiracy to deprive lakhs of poor people in Bihar of their voting rights," Gagan alleged, questioning why the SIR was made mandatory just before the Bihar assembly elections when this was not conducted in the past 22 years. Rejecting the idea outright, the CPI-ML, a key ally of the INDIA bloc, likened the SIR to the NRC process. "This could result in the exclusion of the names of lakhs of people from marginalised communities from the voter list," the CPI-ML leaders said, adding why such an exercise is being conducted when a little over three months are left before the election announcement. They said according to the EC's new guidelines, individuals born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must provide proof that either their mother or father is an Indian citizen, and those born after July 2, 2004, must prove that both parents are citizens, and the entire process needs to be completed within just one month. "The idea would turn out to be an exercise on the pattern of the preparation of the national register of citizens (NRC) in Assam, when people were asked to furnish relevant documents as proof for their enumeration and enlisting as citizens," CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said on Wednesday. "The EC's exercise would result in delisting of a large number of people from the electoral roll, especially the poor, dalits, adivasis, and those belonging to the Muslim community," Bhattacharya alleged. The Congress said they were very much alert and have taken a lesson from the Maharashtra polls. "We are keeping a close watch on the situation," Congress spokesperson Rajesh Rathore said.
