Congress Doubts Estimates Over Missing Voters In Bihar

New Delhi: The Congress doubted the Election Commission's estimate that around 65 lakh voters could be excluded after the summary intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar, saying the actual numbers could be much higher.

The initial estimates had come after the EC completed the SIR on July 25. The EC said out of 7.9 crore voters, 7.2 cr had submitted their enumeration forms, which will be verified. The estimate of exclusion related to persons who were either dead, not found at their given addresses, had submitted multiple forms or had migrated permanently to other states.

The grand old party, along with allies RJD and the Left parties, has alleged that the SIR was conducted in a haphazard manner and actually aimed at removing the names of poor and marginalised voters at the behest of the BJP.

The Congress is now awaiting the draft voter list, which will be published on August 1. The EC said that voters whose names would be left out in the draft voter list will have a month’s time to file objections before the final voter list is published on September 1.

However, the Congress said its doubts still persist because of the gaps in the process and the lack of clarity over documents that were acceptable.

“The way the entire SIR has been carried out has created doubt in our minds. It was done in a chaotic manner and was rushed through at the behest of the BJP. We are waiting for the draft voter list as the picture would become clear only after that, but we will continue our protests over the matter. The real aim seems to be to remove the voters’ names,” AICC secretary in charge of Bihar, Sushil Pasi, told ETV Bharat.

The opposition INDIA bloc had taken the matter to the Supreme Court, saying that it aimed at mass exclusion of voters in the backward state, which was against the concept of equal voting rights in democracy.

The Congress leaders said that after July 10, when the Supreme Court suggested to the EC to accept Aadhar, voter ID and ration card in the SIR, the poll body told the court on July 21 that Aadhar was not acceptable as it was not proof of citizenship.

“The SC had made the suggestion to address the concerns of the opposition that in several cases, the voters lacked the birth certificate of their parents, which was being asked for by the poll body for the SIR. However, due to this confusion, a large number of BLOs started accepting the Aadhar card as a document needed for the SIR and uploaded the enumeration forms. This happened at all the booths of the state. What will happen to all those cases now?” Bihar Congress leader Rajesh Rathor told ETV Bharat.

“Further, we are still not able to understand how crores of voters who work outside the state, along with those who got displaced due to local floods, were able to locate their documents and submit their forms in such a short time. The entire exercise looks doubtful. I wonder why the SC had to again suggest to the EC on July 28 to accept Aadhar, voter ID and ration card for the purpose of SIR. If people have objections, where are they going to get the documents from?” he said.

The EC on July 29 expressed concern before the SC that ration cards could be forged, and the EPIC voter ID cards could not be considered conclusive for the SIR. The EC said that after the draft voter list, people could file their objections. The SC will again hear the case on Aug 12 and 13.

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