INDIA parties in Bihar, including the RJD, and the CPM on Friday strongly opposed the Election Commission’s proposed intensive revision of electoral rolls in the state, calling it a “conspiracy” to help the NDA in the upcoming Assembly polls and a bid to disenfranchise voters.
At a media conference in Patna, Bihar Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD said: “We suspect that this exercise, which seeks documents from voters that few might possess, is aimed at disenfranchising a large number of people — especially those from deprived sections of society…. Once names are struck off the voters’ list, the next step could be depriving these people of the benefits of social welfare schemes.”
He added: “It is impossible for the EC to conduct such a mammoth exercise in just 25 days, as it has proposed. If, indeed, it is possible, I would challenge the Centre to get the caste census done in two months flat.”
Among the other present at the media conference were the Congress’s Pawan Khera and CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya.
CPM politburo member Nilotpal Basu said in a letter to chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Friday: “...The proposals appear to be putting a major part of the responsibility for inclusion/deletion from the electoral rolls, on the basis of which the elections will take place, on the voters themselves.”
The CPM’s objections include the narrow window to complete the process, the absence of consultations, and inadequate measures to include migrants. “If the BLO (booth-level officer) fails to deliver the enumeration form to an existing elector and the said voter is unaware of the process to get the form, his name will be deleted from the electoral roll. Let alone Internet connectivity and e-literacy, when even ordinary literacy is lacking, how does the EC expect such voters to download/ upload forms?” Basu wrote.
“Now the insistence on providing proof of residence for all existing voters will lead to unnecessary harassment of voters, who may not have the requisite documents…. The insistence on proof of parents will only complicate matters further,” he added.
