Latest news with #EC
News18
4 hours ago
- Politics
- News18
SIR, Could We Have Voters' List Reforms With Some ICE, Please?
So far, 6.6 crore or 88.18 per cent of the total voters in the state have submitted their enumeration forms. The deadline is July 25, after which the draft electoral roll will be published. The EC has shared statistics, which show 12.5 lakh or 1.59 per cent of electors have died but their names remain on the list. Another 2.2 per cent, or 17.5 lakh electors, have permanently moved out of Bihar. Around 5.5 lakh or 0.73 per cent voters have registered twice. This adds up to 35.5 lakh existing voters or 4.5 per cent of the total electorate facing removal from Bihar's voter list. It does not include illegal immigrants from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, whom EC teams busted during field visits, who were registered as voters. These names will also be removed after verification. The Supreme Court, which is currently hearing petitions related to the SIR, has advised the EC to use Aadhaar cards, ration cards, and voter ID cards for voter verification. An overwhelming part of illegal immigrants are Muslims from Bangladesh and Myanmar. In Bihar districts like Kishanganj, which has 68 per cent Muslims, for instance, Aadhaar card saturation reportedly stands at 126 per cent. Katihar, with 44 per cent Muslims, has 123 per cent Aadhaar card saturation, Araria has 123 per cent, and Purnia has 121 per cent. So, these districts have more than 120 Aadhaar cards for every 100 people. This fraud and assault on the system obviously benefits 'secular' parties like the Congress and RJD, who are now blue with rage. The TMC in West Bengal, a case study in minority appeasement politics, has threatened agitation to stop the purge of illegals from the electoral rolls. One hopes the Centre and the courts won't buckle. But just cleaning the voter lists is not enough. Since the process is making large-scale detection of illegals possible, it should be followed by detention and deportation. That is exactly what the Donald Trump administration has been doing in America through relentless raids by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE. President Trump came into office promising the largest mass deportation in US history, targeting what he claimed were 10 million unauthorised migrants living in the US. As a result of the ICE raids, data shows border crossings have plummeted, arrests have doubled, and the number of people in detention is at an all-time high, reports NBC. Migrants in ICE detention on July 7, 2025, stood at 57,186. Of them, 28.6 per cent have criminal convictions, 25 per cent have pending criminal charges, 47.5 per cent were listed as 'other immigration violator", and 11.7 per cent have been fast-tracked for deportation. Cumulative border crossings have come down to 1,08,658 (year to date, 2025) from 9,05,920 (YTD, 2024), which was 88 per cent higher. Border crossings stood at 9,25,919 (YTD, 2023), 88.3 per cent higher than this year. The number of people deported by ICE has not been regularly released, but NBC News claims it has internal ICE data, which shows 15,000-18,000 are being deported each month lately.
Time of India
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Supreme Court: Promoting regionalism as dangerous as communalism
Supreme Court (ANI) NEW DELHI: Supreme Court expressed concern on Tuesday over the encouragement given to regionalism by political parties to seek votes and said this poses as much danger to the unity and integrity of India as the promotion of communal divide in society. "Regional parties openly promote regionalism and seek votes during elections. Is this not against the unity and integrity of the country?" a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked while declining to entertain a petition seeking cancellation of the registration of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. It said it would not single out any one political party when many were indulging in communalism. "No doubt the petition raises an important issue. But this can only be gone into when a neutral petition is filed without accusing a single party," the bench said and gave liberty to the petitioner to file a neutral petition raising the larger issues relating to electoral reforms. However, it said a conjoint reading of the clauses of the AIMIM's constitution does not show there is anything which runs contrary to the Constitution of India. "If a religious law is protected by the Constitution, then a political party has the right to propagate that," the court said. It said if a candidate of a party, which conforms to the standards set by the Constitution and Representation of the People Act, seeks votes in the name of religion, then s/he is liable for disqualification. 'AIMIM's constitution against secularism ' For petitioner Tirupati Narasimha Murari, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain said AIMIM's constitution advocates the cause of the Muslim community alone and has the objective of promotion of Islamic education, commitment to Sharia law, formation of Majlis Shura and prioritisation of employment, education and economic welfare of the Muslim community. 'This is against secularism, the basic tenet of the Indian Constitution,' he said. As against this, he argued, the Election Commission would refuse to register a political party with a Hindu name and a constitution that espouses the cause of Hindus and promotes Vedic education. The bench disagreed and said, 'If the EC refuses to register such a party, then there are forums to challenge the EC decision.'
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Bihari guest workers in TN left clueless on electoral rollrevision
Amid the furore surrounding the 's special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in Bihar, ahead of the assembly election scheduled to take place later this year, the fates of lakhs of guest workers keen on exercising their voting right hangs in the balance. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Under the exercise, around four crore of the eight crore voters in Bihar will have to submit documents proving their citizenship to enumerators by July 25, failing which their names will be excluded from the rolls. Analysts have pointed out that a huge chunk of the electorate comprising illiterate and underserved voters might not have one of the 11 documents that the Commission demands (including domicile and caste certificates) as proof of citizenship, and might not be in a position to furnish them before the deadline. The development has shocked 4.5 lakh people from Bihar in , of which an estimated 2 lakh are in Chennai. They include workers in the construction, hospitality, and logistics industries as well as college students. While the Supreme Court had suggested last week that the EC accept Aadhaar, its own identity card, and ration card as documents for voter re-verification, there seems to be an air of uncertainty regarding the way forward. "Since the announcement, we have been flooded with calls," says Mukesh Kumar Thakur, Secretary of Bihar Association, Chennai, and also Secretary of the Bihar Foundation, Chennai Chapter. "Some people have voter ID cards from Bihar, while their Aadhaar and ration cards have a Chennai address. They're worried that their names might get struck off owing to duplication. We have instructed them to approach their ward members. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now " Many workers are relying on relatives from their native constituencies to send them the necessary forms. Sanjay Kumar Jha, a logistics worker from Ambattur, who has lived in Chennai for 25 years with his family, plans on travelling to Bihar to get his verification done, as his Aadhaar bears a Chennai address, while the voter ID is of Bihar. In a majority of cases, workers have not been intimated about how to proceed with the revision process. Rajdev Kumar, a hotel employee in the city, fears the absence of awareness among guest workers could lead to mass exclusion from the electoral rolls. A similar fear has enveloped guest workers in other parts of TN. "Only a few among the daily wage workers from Bihar are educated, and they might be in a position to provide school or birth certificates. I have been working in Tamil Nadu for 15 years and all I have as proof are my Aadhaar and PAN cards," explained Rajesh Sah, employed at a private factory near Thaneerpandal road, Coimbatore. Others lament that the deadline for furnishing the necessary details is too short. With inputs from Anushka Juliet, Deepak Karthick, Vivanesh Parthiban
Time of India
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Bihar: Contact voters individually to complete forms under SIR
Representative image NEW DELHI: With collection of enumeration forms (EFs) under the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar already covering 91 per cent of its electorate after accounting for the deceased, permanently shifted and people enrolled at more than one place, Election Commission has asked booth level officers to individually contact the remaining electors to assist them to turn in their EFs well in time. Meanwhile, electors who handed over their filled-up enumeration forms to the booth level officers directly or through booth level agents appointed by political parties, can, starting Tuesday night, check the status of their forms on ECINeT or EC's voters portal. "The purpose of the new module is to ensure full transparency and a direct interface between the elector and EC; it will allow any elector to enter his EPIC no. and view for himself if his enumeration form has been accepted by the BLO," a senior EC official told TOI. All electors who submit their forms by July 25 will be included in Bihar's draft electoral roll to be published on Aug 1, 2025. A SIR update shared by EC on Tuesday said EFs have been collected from 86.3 per cent of Bihar's 7.9 crore electorate, with 10 more days to go for the deadline. Over 6.2 crore forms have been uploaded on ECINet. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like An engineer reveals: One simple trick to get internet without a subscription Techno Mag Learn More Undo Sparing no effort to ensure that all eligible electors are included in the draft electoral roll, the third round of household visits by the nearly 1 lakh BLOs will soon begin to collect EFs of Bihar's remaining 9.2 per cent electorate. This will cover households where the electors were temporarily absent during the previous visits. Special camps have been established in all the 5,683 wards of 261 urban local bodies of Bihar and newspaper advertisements issued to ensure that the remaining electors fill their EFs well in time. Such electors are also being encouraged by the BLOs to fill up their forms online using the ECINet app on their mobile phones or through the online form on Through ECINet, electors can fill out their EFs online and search for their names in the 2003 electoral roll. The electors can also connect with their election officials, including their BLOs, using the ECINet app.
Borneo Post
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Borneo Post
DAP S'wak chief's redelineation stand overlooks rural realities, may be politically-driven, says analyst
Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi KUCHING (July 16): The argument by Democratic Action Party (DAP) lawmaker Chong Chieng Jen about the voters-based redelineation in Sarawak is deemed by some as being politically-motivated. According to socio-political analyst Datuk Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi, although Chong's stand is rooted in the democratic principle of 'one-person, one-vote', there are those who will counter-argue that Chong has underestimated the logistical difficulties of representing vast, sparsely-populated rural areas, where accessibility and infrastructure remain major challenges. 'His (Chong's) stance is viewed by some as being politically-motivated, aimed at protecting DAP's urban strongholds. 'Additionally, Chong's rejection of state seat expansion seems to overlook the strategic value of increasing Sarawak's parliamentary representation, which could strengthen the state's influence at the federal level,' said Awang Azman, a professor from Universiti Malaya. 'In essence, while Chong's position is commendable for its commitment to electoral fairness and fiscal responsibility, it would benefit from a more inclusive consideration of Sarawak's rural realities and a constructive proposal for increasing federal representation alongside voter-based reform.' Chong, the Stampin MP and Padungan assemblyman, had highlighted a stark disparity between urban and rural areas, where some urban constituencies had over 70,000 voters, while certain rural ones had fewer than 10,000 – arguing that this undermined equal representation. The DAP Sarawak leader also questioned the rationale behind increasing the number of State Legislative Assembly (DUN) seats, highlighting the high cost of over RM20 million and stating that Sarawak was already enjoying one of the most favourable representative-to-voter ratios in the Commonwealth. 'Instead of expanding seats, he (Chong) had proposed a more balanced redelineation model based on a weighted index that would consider both the population size and the land areas,' added Awang Azman. On Monday, Chong – in a press statement – had urged the Sarawak government to make formal representation to the Election Commission (EC) to adopt a constituency model based on voter population with a proposed range of 17,340 to 23,460 voters per constituency, so as to ensure fair and equal representation in the DUN. 'This is necessary to preserve the true meaning of the term 'wakil rakyat' (elected people's representative) in Sarawak. 'The state assemblypersons are called 'wakil rakyat', not 'wakil tanah' (representative of land). 'We serve the people on the land, not the land itself,' said Chong in a statement, issued in response to the Sarawak government's move of allowing the EC to expand the number of seats in the DUN Sarawak from 82 to 99. Awang Azman Awang Pawi Chong Chieng Jen DAP Sarawak redelineation
