Bihar SIR row: EC slams Oppn over ‘voter fraud’ allegations, says SIR in West Bengal, other states soon

Bihar SIR Row: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday slammed opposition parties led by the Congress over voter fraud allegations in the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar announcing that similar SIR exercises will be also conducted in West Bengal and other states in due course.

What EC said on Bihar SIR?

Addressing its first presser since Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other other opposition parties accused the EC of colluding with the BJP to help the ruling party to “steal” elections, including the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the apex poll panel refuted the allegations, calling them an “insult” to the country’s Constitution.

CEC Gyanesh Kumar stated that the EC initiated SIR in Bihar as every political party demanded corrections in the voter list, adding that the draft list was jointly prepared by over 1.6 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) nominated by various political parties.

The CEC said that the latest SIR became necessary in the wake of complaints by many parties and migration of voters within the country.

“Knowingly, unknowingly, some people ended up having multiple voter cards due to migration and other issues…. It is a myth that SIR has been carried out in haste. It is EC’s legal duty to correct voter lists before every election,” he said.

“It is a matter of serious concern that these verified documents, testimonials of the district presidents of political parties and the BLOs nominated by political parties are either not reaching their own state level or national level leaders, or an attempt is being made to spread confusion by ignoring the ground reality,” the CEC said.

He asserted that all stakeholders are committed, and working hard to make the Bihar SIR “a complete success”.

EC’s credibility ‘unquestionable’, says CEC

Kumar came down heavily on the opposition over voter theft allegations, stating that the EC’s credibility is “unquestionable” as over 7 crore voters in Bihar trust the poll body.

The CEC called the opposition’s ‘vote theft’ charge as “misleading”, aimed at misguiding voters.

“According to the law, if errors in the voter lists are not corrected in time, if an election petition is not filed in the Hon’ble High Court within 45 days of a voter choosing their candidate, and instead misleading words like ‘vote theft’ are used in a failed attempt to misguide the public, then what is this if not an insult to the Constitution of India?” he said.

‘EC not scared of false allegations’

Referring to Rahul Gandhi’s recent press conference, CEC Kumar asked why the pictures of voters were publicly shared with the media without consent and allegations levelled against them. “”Should the Election Commission share the CCTV videos of any voter, including their mothers, daughters-in-law, or daughters?” he asked.

Kumar stated that the EC or the voters are not scared of false accusations, and the poll panel would continue to “stand like a rock” with all voters, irrespective of caste, creed, status, wealth, religion, age or gender. “More than one crore employees are engaged in the election exercise. Can ‘vote chori’ happen in such a transparent process?” he asked.

He also asserted that the Election Commission is above “petty politics” and does not side with either the ruling party or the Opposition. Kumar added that the poll panel will initiate a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal and other states soon, and the announcement will be made in due course.

Voter fraud row

The EC’s comments come as the Opposition stepped up its attack against the poll roll revision in Bihar and on the allegations of ‘vote chori’ raised by Congress.

On Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the whole country now knows that the Election Commission is “stealing” elections in collusion with the BJP and asserted that the INDIA bloc will not let them succeed in their “conspiracy” to steal the Bihar Assembly polls by voter additions and deletions through SIR.

He was addressing a gathering in Sasaram at the launch event of his 1,300 km ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ covering over 20 districts in Bihar.

(With inputs from agencies)

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