SIR Row: Cong, BJP Trade Barbs Over EC Move

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) New Delhi- Political battle lines hardened over the SIR row on Sunday with the opposition asserting that the Election Commission's“piecemeal” steps for deleted or at-risk voters will do little to mitigate“mass disenfranchisement” and the BJP hitting back, saying those who benefited from“dirty rolls” are now crying foul.

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The attack and counter-attack came a day after the Election Commission announced a series of decisions on issues that two election commissioners had raised in internal communications over the past 10 months, ranging from changes to voter registration forms to access to electoral roll databases and the functioning of its IT systems.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi on Saturday.

This came after The Indian Express reported that Joshi and Sandhu had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a 10-month period to decisions and orders, some of which they said were issued without their knowledge.

The BJP said that over one crore duplicate entries and 2.8 crore names of deceased voters were removed from electoral rolls across 31 states and UTs under the SIR exercise, which is“exposing the rot”, and those who benefited from dirty rolls are now crying foul.

The ruling party also slammed the Congress for“misleading” people on the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and asked it to respond to its defeat in various elections by respecting democratic mandate, not with lies.

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“Here's a question nobody from the INDI Alliance wants to answer: Who benefited from keeping these duplicate names on the rolls? If there was nothing to hide, why the panic over cleaning up voter lists?” the BJP said in a post on its X handle.

In another post, it said that 9.43 crore absent and shifted names have been identified and removed from electoral rolls.“That's not a minor clean-up. That's 9.92% of the total electorate on the rolls. Yet the INDI Alliance is opposing the very exercise that is meant to ensure accurate voter lists,” the BJP said.

It said 2.8 crore names of deceased voters were removed from electoral rolls across 31 states and UTs under the SIR exercise.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the Election Commission, in its statement on Saturday, clearly stated that all major decisions, including SIR, were taken unanimously by all three election commissioners.

Yet, the Congress is not shying away from misleading people and questioning the credibility of constitutional institutions like the Election Commission, Trivedi said in a post on X.

The Congress lashed out at the BJP over its assertion that the SIR had removed 2.8 crore names of deceased voters from the electoral rolls, asking if the annual Summary Revisions since 2014 were“really that shoddy”.

Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said 13 crore voters have been removed under the SIR.“The BJP says 2.8 crore were deceased voters. Fair enough. What about the remaining 10.2 crore?” he said on X.

Is the BJP admitting that it has failed for years to maintain electoral rolls properly? If not, where did the other 10.2 crore names go? Khera said.

Stepping up its attack on the Election Commission, the Congress also said the EC's proposed measures related to SIR are an admission that the exercise has been a“disaster” and asserted that the“piecemeal” steps for deleted or at-risk voters will do little to mitigate this“mass disenfranchisement”.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the press note issued by the Election Commission last night has already been debunked and exposed for what it is–“a desperate attempt at damage control that hides all and reveals nothing”.

Ramesh put out what he described as a“further demolition” of the thoroughly meaningless press note of the EC. He said the proposed measures around the SIR of electoral rolls are an admission that it has been a“disaster”.

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“The piecemeal measures for deleted or at-risk voters will do little to mitigate this mass disenfranchisement. For 5.43 crore voters who are at risk of deletion, the EC has promised that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will now visit their houses. This was supposed to happen during the house-to-house enumeration phase,” Ramesh said in his statement posted on X.

“We know that in practice these visits were sparse and sporadic. What is the value of promising a second round of visits which likely will not happen? The logic of repeating a process done poorly once must be examined,” he said.

What is the point of this SIR process which has turned into a“colossal waste” of public resources and a nuisance for every citizen, Ramesh asked.

“For nearly 14 crore voters deleted so far in all 3 phases of the SIR, the Commission's answer is that they must now apply afresh to their Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) for inclusion. First disenfranchise en masse, and then ask voters to get themselves re-added,” the Congress leader said.

There is widespread evidence of targeted deletions of marginalised voters to benefit the BJP and the EC has not addressed this charge, he said.

“The centrality of the ECINet software to the electoral roll preparation, its deletion of eligible voters and illegal override of EROs have not been denied. Nothing has been proposed to substantively address these issues,” Ramesh said.

The EC has proposed a committee to certify that the software“complies with the Acts and Rules”, he said, adding that this is an admission that its legality is in doubt after it has been used all over the country during the SIR.

He also said the lack of transparency around widespread use of AI in electoral roll preparation is dangerous.

The CPI(M) also rejected the Election Commission's statement, saying that it failed to address the serious issues raised by recent disclosures.

The Left party reiterated its demand for the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

In a statement, the CPI(M) Politburo said the concerns raised by opposition parties and civil society organisations over the SIR process have been reinforced by disclosure of objections within the Commission itself.

“The Election Commission of India's statement issued on September 26 does not address the serious questions raised by disclosures about the Commission's functioning and the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls,” the Politburo said.

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