9 myths and a bitter reality

You haven’t seen a extra brazen try to disenfranchise Indian residents than the nationwide ‘particular intensive revision’ of voter rolls the Election Fee of India (ECI) has launched into in Bihar. It’s being bought as an overdue thorough clean-up of the voter rolls—apparently to be performed nationwide, beginning with Bihar—however is something however. To make issues worse, there are every kind of myths and misconceptions in circulation concerning the train — 9 once I final counted. I’ll add to those a bitter reality to spherical off the checklist of 10 issues it is best to find out about this most diabolical train.

Fantasy #1

<The Election Fee is finishing up an intensive revision and ‘correction’ of Bihar voter rolls>

Truth-check. This isn’t a revision of the prevailing voter checklist. The outdated checklist is being scrapped completely, and a brand new voter roll is being ready from scratch.

 Fantasy #2

<Nothing new about this revision train—it has been executed earlier than>

Truth-check. Completely not. What’s occurring this time is unprecedented. After voter lists have been digitised, the necessity to put together them from scratch went away. That is the primary such occasion in 22 years. By no means earlier than has the onus of getting their title on the checklist been positioned on the voter. By no means earlier than have voters been requested to furnish paperwork to show their citizenship. By no means earlier than has a brand new checklist been ready simply 4 months earlier than an election.

Fantasy #3

<The Bihar voter rolls have been particularly flawed, so this needed to be executed>

Truth-check. Incorrect. Simply six months in the past, there was a full-scale revision of Bihar’s voter checklist. Lakhs of names have been added and deleted. The revised checklist was printed in January. No main complaints of irregularities have been raised. Minor errors have been already being addressed by means of ongoing updates. If in any respect wanted, one other revision may have been executed. There was neither a requirement nor a real must junk your complete checklist and begin over.

Fantasy #4

<These whose names have been on the 2003 voter checklist won’t must do something>

Truth-check. Fallacious once more. Everybody should fill out a brand new kind. These whose names within the January 2025 checklist precisely match their full title, father’s title and tackle within the 2003 voter checklist will probably be spared submitting proof of beginning date and birthplace. However even these folks might want to fill out the shape, connect {a photograph} and signature, and a photocopy of the web page from the 2003 checklist that reveals their title.

Fantasy #5

<Paperwork will probably be sought solely from these whose citizenship is doubtful>

Truth-check. That is false. Anybody whose title didn’t seem within the 2003 checklist should submit paperwork together with the brand new kind.

 §  These born earlier than 1 July 1987 should submit proof of their date and native land

§  These born between 1 July 1987 and a couple of December 2004 should submit proof both for themselves or for one mum or dad

§  These born after 2 December 2004 should submit paperwork for each themselves and each dad and mom. If the dad and mom’ names appeared within the 2003 checklist, then a photocopy of that web page will suffice as proof for them — however the applicant nonetheless has to supply birth-related paperwork.

Fantasy #6

<The Election Fee has supplied many choices for proof of citizenship — absolutely each family can have one thing>

Truth-check. Paperwork folks usually produce as proof of ID — Aadhaar card, ration card, the Election Fee’s personal voter ID card, job playing cards underneath MNREGA — won’t be accepted. Of the 11 acceptable paperwork the ECI lists, many don’t apply to Bihar or are not often obtainable. For instance: passport (which solely 2.4% have), beginning certificates (2.8%), authorities worker or pensioner ID (5%), caste certificates (16%) — these should not obtainable in peculiar houses. That leaves school-leaving or diploma certificates — obtainable with lower than half the folks of Bihar.

Fantasy #7

<The foundations are the identical for everybody — no discrimination>

Truth-check. That’s on paper. In follow, the principles are loaded in opposition to those that’ve had restricted entry to schooling. The fallout? Girls, the poor, migrant employees, Dalits, Adivasis and backward communities can have an actual battle on their arms to supply the required paperwork — and find yourself dropping their vote. Schooling is successfully changing into a precondition for citizenship.

Fantasy #8

<The Election Fee has given three months — there’s sufficient time for everybody to be included>

Truth-check. The actual window is only one month — till 25 July. The remaining two months are to handle objections and for the ECI’s inner paperwork. Inside this one month, the ECI expects that: all booth-level officers (of whom 20,000 haven’t even been appointed but) will probably be educated; get together brokers can even be educated; new kinds will attain each family; each particular person will fill out their kind; needed paperwork will probably be connected; stuffed kinds will probably be collected from each house; the info will probably be uploaded and its verification can have commenced!

Anybody whose kind is just not submitted by 25 July won’t make it to the voter checklist. Interval.

Fantasy #9

<This revision will repair the issue of Bangladeshi infiltrators>

Truth-check. If Bihar has an issue of unlawful international nationals, it’s not primarily Bangladeshi Muslims — it’s primarily Nepali migrants from the Terai area, most of whom are Hindu. It’s attainable the revision train will purge the voter rolls of some thousand Bangladeshis and tens of hundreds of Nepalis. However within the course of, an estimated 2.5 crore bona fide Indian residents may lose their proper to vote. You don’t swat a fly with a sledgehammer.

#TheBitterTruth

Bihar has a inhabitants of round 13 crore. Of those, roughly 8 crore are adults who needs to be on the voter checklist. However solely about 3 crore have been on the 2003 checklist. The remaining 5 crore will now need to furnish paperwork to show their citizenship. Not less than half of them — round 2.5 crore folks — do not need the paperwork the ECI calls for. Which implies this ‘particular intensive revision’ may snatch away the one proper nonetheless obtainable to the final particular person within the line — the suitable to vote.

Indians nonetheless have horror recollections of the ‘notebandi’ (demonetisation) of November 2016 and of the ‘deshbandi’ (the Covid lockdown of March 2020). Are we now about to witness a ‘votebandi’, a mass disenfranchisement of Indian residents?

 (<Translated with permission from the Hindi unique)