New DelhiJul 2, 2025 21:09 IST
First published on: Jul 2, 2025 at 20:44 IST
-
Share
-
Amid concerns being raised by Opposition parties about the “special intensive revision” of the electoral roll in poll-bound Bihar, a delegation of INDIA bloc leaders met Election Commission officials in New Delhi Wednesday and said people will struggle to produce documents being sought for the exercise at such short notice, and “this is against a level-playing field in a democracy”.
Briefing the media after the meeting, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: “The main issue we went to discuss… The first point we raised was that since 2003, 22 years have passed. Four or five elections have happened in Bihar. Were they against rules? The second point was that if you were to do the SIR, then why was the announcement made suddenly at the end of June. Why was this decision taken? If there is a need for SIR, then it could have been done in January-February. You have given one month for this. There is one month for enumeration of 7.75 crore voters. Whatever has to be done, any challenges, there are two-three months for that. When you had done it in 2003, after one year, there were general elections. When you did it in 2003, then Assembly elections were two years later. You only have one month or so. This is not enough.”
“The third point is that you are seeking documents for this. For one decade, for everything, you ask for the Aadhaar card and ration card. For the first time, you are saying that a person’s name will not be considered if one doesn’t have a birth certificate. In one category, one also needs the parents’ birth certificates if you are born between 1987 and 2012. We said that there are so many poor, and minorities, backward in Bihar. Will they keep running around for papers? This is against a level-playing field in a democracy,” he said.
“Our 11-party delegation held a meeting for three hours with the EC. Twenty people had gone from 11 parties. Before I talk about the main issue, I will say that we were told some rules about going inside for the first time. We were told that only party chiefs could go in. This is not possible. This isn’t practical. This kind of ban means the necessary conversation in a democracy between political parties and the ECI won’t happen. We give lists of people who are to go in… Then, for them (ECI) to say only two persons will be allowed. Some people had to wait outside. We have complained over this issue, alleging that this is against democracy,” Singhvi said.
Those present at the meeting included senior Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Pawan Khera, Bihar Congress chief Rajesh Ram, Bihar leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, Samajwadi Party’s Harender Malik, NCP-SCP’s Fauzia Khan, CPI(M)’s John Brittas, CPI (ML) Liberation’s Dipankar Bhattacharya, and CPI’s D Raja.
No representative of the TMC was there at the meeting. A delegation of the party had met EC officials Tuesday. The TMC delegation said it had suggested that 2024 should be used as the base year for the electoral roll’s SIR.
ECI sources said Wednesday that “some people have come without being authorised” by their party chiefs. “Even then, ECI has invited two persons per party,” the sources said.
Paving the way for a nationwide exercise, the Commission on June 24 announced a “special intensive revision” of the electoral roll in Bihar, where all existing electors who were not on the rolls in 2003 would have to again provide documentation proving their eligibility.
The enumeration form will require those electors born before July 1, 1987 to provide a document establishing date and/or place of birth. The EC announcement came under fire from Opposition parties which voiced concerns about the exercise potentially disenfranchising electors.
Ahead of the meeting, the Congress and the EC appeared to be involved in a tussle with the Commission saying that the Congress and seven other Opposition parties hadn’t confirmed their participation for the meeting Wednesday evening.
EC sources said that the CPM and CPI(ML) Liberation representatives had “confirmed their availability for the meeting with EC at 5 pm today to discuss the ongoing intensive roll” in Bihar. “None of the other eight parties, including Congress, confirmed their participation yet,” the EC sources said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called the move “more dangerous than NRC (National Register of Citizens)” and alleged that her state, which heads to polls next year, was the real “target”.
Reacting to the SIR announcement, the Congress said the EC was admitting that “all is not well with India’s electoral rolls” but called the revision “a cure worse than the disease”.
