Bihar Voter Roll Revision Could Disenfranchise Marginalised, Warn Former CECs
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On exclusion of Aadhaar, OP Rawat echoed what the ballot physique has been saying — “Aadhaar just isn’t a proof of citizenship”. He stated it’s proof of odd residence and 12 months of delivery.
Particular Intensive Revision ongoing in Bihar’s Vaishali area. (News18)
The marginalised communities, together with migrant labourers, Dalits, Adivasis, the city poor, Muslims, the aged, and ladies, could also be prone to being disenfranchised below the continued Particular Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, former Chief Election Commissioners have warned.
These individuals, they stated, lack entry to delivery or parental paperwork and will fall via bureaucratic cracks, regardless of having beforehand been enrolled. News18 spoke to a few former CECs – SY Quraishi, Om Prakash Rawat and one other who didn’t want to be named – in regards to the SIR in Bihar.
What Om Prakash Rawat Mentioned
When requested if the SIR dangers disenfranchising migrants and people from distant areas, as claimed by the opposition events, Rawat, who served the workplace between January and December 2018, stated: “within the current state of affairs your fears have a definite likelihood of coming true.”
Addressing the complexity of the SIR, and if such a large-scale revision is advisable so near the polls – anticipated earlier than November – Rawat stated that in his time they by no means had intensive revisions however solely particular abstract revision. “In my time we by no means had intensive revisions. Earlier than each election we had particular abstract revision solely,” he added.
On exclusion of Aadhaar, OP Rawat echoed what the ballot physique has been saying — “Aadhaar just isn’t a proof of citizenship”. He stated it’s proof of odd residence and 12 months of delivery.
Rawat, nevertheless, additionally stated that strict necessities for proof of citizenship for many who usually are not there within the 2003 electoral roll in a good time schedule is inflicting panic and “opposition is seeing a risk of huge scale deletion of voters who usually are not resourceful sufficient to achieve getting such paperwork in time”.
When requested how dependable the door to door verification is, Rawat stated that the election equipment proper right down to the BLO degree is sort of skilled and dependable.
“They’d perform ECI’s orders absolutely in letter and in spirit,” Rawat assured.
What SY Quraishi Mentioned
Quraishi, who served from July 2010 to June 2012, echoed related issues, saying for these from marginalised sections, their earlier inclusion within the rolls must have been enough, except there was clear proof of fraud or too many duplicate voters.
Quraishi highlighted the problem of lack of broad session: “Opposition events allege that the SIR was launched with out prior discover or dialogue. It is a legitimate assertion. Earlier, the EC did conduct prior consultations with nationwide and state events each through the 2002–03 intensive roll revisions throughout 20 states, together with Bihar and in addition within the 2004 revisions in northeastern states and J&Ok.”
He emphasised that these workouts had been usually not rushed and had been typically carried out years earlier than elections, permitting time for suggestions, public consciousness campaigns, and get together involvement.
On the timing of the SIR, Quraishi said that it’s the timing that makes it controversial, not the legality: “Undoubtedly, the electoral rolls have to be frequently up to date—however doing so barely 4 months earlier than polling in a flood-prone, high-migration state like Bihar is asking for bother. The priority just isn’t about legality; it’s about practicality, desirability and the political optics that emerge from its execution.”
What One other Former CEC Mentioned
The third former CEC identified that whereas the well-off can simply get hold of authorities paperwork, the real poor face practically not possible hurdles: “In India, acquiring a authorities doc is usually a matter of means fairly than advantage. For these with cash or connections, paperwork could be organized with ease. However for a real poor voter—somebody working as a every day wager, or residing on the streets or a distant village, it may be a bureaucratic nightmare. After we demand layers of documentation for one thing as basic as the best to vote, we threat turning a constitutional assure right into a privilege reserved for the better-off.”
Talking in regards to the exclusion of Aadhaar, the nameless former CEC added that if that is going to be a norm, then Aadhaar needs to be faraway from the record of paperwork normally additionally for making use of for a voter card: “If a voter can get a voter card based mostly on their Aadhaar card below form-6, they need to even be allowed to make use of the identical doc throughout SIR. In any other case Aadhaar shouldn’t be used in any respect for the voter card.”
No eligible voter can be ignored: CEC
The present CEC Gyanesh Kumar has a number of occasions assured that the target of the SIR is to make sure that no eligible voter is ignored, and on the identical time, no ineligible voter is included within the Electoral Roll. The fee has maintained that the whole lot is going on as per the legislation and that pure electoral rolls are inevitable for strengthening democracy. The ballot physique had confronted a number of questions for the Maharashtra, Haryana and Lok Sabha elections held final 12 months across the purity of the voter record. The Delhi meeting polls held earlier this 12 months additionally noticed BJP and AAP combating over the inclusion of unlawful voters.
Each Rawat and Quraishi highlighted that there’s nothing unlawful within the revision and it’s ordinarily possible. However it isn’t advisable to carry the train so near the polls. Addressing the complexity of the SIR, and if such a large-scale revision is advisable so near the polls – anticipated earlier than November – Rawat stated that in his time they by no means had intensive revisions however solely particular abstract revision: “In my time we by no means had intensive revisions. Earlier than each election we had particular abstract revision solely,” he added.
SIR In Superior stage
The voters must submit their paperwork by July 25 and the draft roll is predicted on August 1. The ultimate roll can be out on September 30 whereas elections are anticipated round October or November.
On Tuesday, the ballot physique introduced that 3.70 crore Enumeration Types, which is 46.95 per cent of the full of seven.90 crore electors in Bihar have been collected (by 6.00 pm).
Going by the progress of SIR, the ECI stated it’s most certainly that the train of assortment of Enumeration Types can be accomplished properly earlier than the July 25 deadline.
Nivedita Singh is a knowledge journalist and covers the Election Fee, Indian Railways and Ministry of Highway Transport and Highways. She has practically seven years of expertise within the information media. She tweets @nived…Learn Extra
Nivedita Singh is a knowledge journalist and covers the Election Fee, Indian Railways and Ministry of Highway Transport and Highways. She has practically seven years of expertise within the information media. She tweets @nived… Learn Extra
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