Bihar SIR | EC Claims No Political Parties Have Sent Claims or Objections. Several Booth-Level Agents Say They Have

Patna (Bihar): Contrary to the claim of the Election Commission of India that no political parties have sent it complaints on voters' list deletions, many booth-level agents say they have written to the poll body, with varying degrees of success. 

The ECI published the draft electoral list after a 'special intensive revision (SIR)' on August 1. The list excluded 65 lakh voters, citing various reasons like death, the fact that voters have moved permanently and double entries of their names.  

In the Arrah assembly seat, the booth-level agent of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation found 174 voters' names missing from the list. They were given no reason for the deletion of names. 

Chandan Kumar, the agent, spoke to The Wire. “The ECI, contrary to what it said it would do, has not given any reason for why the names were missing from the list. In a few cases, local poll officials have said that they could not be traced and that is why their names were deleted. But they are present.”

The party wrote to the ECI on August 8, asking to add their names as well as investigate how the names were deleted. But the ECI is yet to react to it, Kumar said.

“We have met an observer on this. He told us that he will investigate the matter, but we are not seeing any action from his side. Voters from disadvantaged economic backgrounds are mainly in the list of names which were deleted," he said. 

He added that since the ECI has not given the list of names deleted in draft voter lists, he has been finding it difficult to ascertain reasons for their deletion at all. 

In Darbhanga district’s Bahadurpur assembly area, at least 20 voters' names were found deleted from the draft voters' list. 

But Bahadupur saw prompt action from ECI officials. 

Amit Paswan, a CPI(ML)-Liberation booth-level agent who had sent a written complaint against it, says that following his complaint, the additional district magistrate (ADM), block development officer (BDO) and other officials visited the village and spent hours investigating the case. 

 The BLA had attached their voter card details as well as the relevant portion of the 2003 electoral rolls where their names had appeared, with the complaint. “We wanted strong evidence, so we investigated at our level and then sent a written complaint,” he told The Wire.

It was found during investigation that their enumeration forms had not been collected by the booth-level officer (BLO). The BLO in his response said that he had indeed distributed the forms, but that voters did not submit it. On the other hand, voters whose names were deleted said that they did not know why the forms had been given to them. Many were not formally educated.

The BLO of the booth was suspended for negligence. 

Amit Paswan has also found a few voters' names deleted from the adjacent booth in Bahadurpur. “So far, we have found 4-5 voters’ names missing from the draft voter list in an adjacent booth. We will investigate all the booths in the Bahadurpur assembly and then send a written complaint along with proofs," Paswan said. 

Surendra Ram, a Rashtriya Janata Dal party leader of Saran, has meanwhile submitted a written complaint to the chief election officer (CEO) in which he alleged that many dead voters’ names have appeared in the list while genuine voters’ names were excluded. 

Also read: No Objection Over Bihar SIR Deletions From Political Parties Yet: Here's What This Means

ECI claims no complaint from BLAs 

Despite these complaints from booth-level agents, the ECI has been claiming that no complaint has been received.

There are 160,813 such agents in the in the state. About 53,338 of them are of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), RJD has about 47,506 BLAs and Janata Dal (United) has deputed 36,550 agents. Congress has 17,549 and CPI(ML)-Liberation has 1,496.

Since August 1, 8,341 electors have directly filed claims and objections, says the ECI press release issued on August 10. The release says that there are zero claims and objections from political parties with respect to the draft rolls.

All the claims and objections will be disposed of by the concerned ERO/AERO after the expiry of seven days after the verification of eligibility documents, the press release says. 

Yusuf Ansari, an RJD leader of Aurangabad district, has alleged that more than 200 voters of his locality were excluded from the draft list. He told The Wire, “ECI has not conveyed the grounds on which their names were excluded from the draft list.”

The Wire has mailed and messaged detailed queries to the CEO of Bihar. The story will be updated as and when we receive responses.

Form 6 to get old voters’ name included 

The ECI has not provided for the restoration of excluded voters in the list, so if a genuine voter’s name is not there in the draft list, he will have to apply afresh by filling up Form 6. This form is used to include a new voter.  

This means that if a person has been voting for decades, but their name is excluded from the draft list, then he will have to fill up Form 6 anew. And when the new electoral roll will be published, his name will be published in the new voter’s column. So, it will be nearly impossible to figure out how many genuinely new voters were added in the electoral roll and how many were old voters.  

According to the ECI, it has so far received 46,588 Form 6 and declarations which includes six forms from booth-level agents.

Booth-level agent Amit Paswan, mentioned above, told The Wire, “District election officials have told us to get the Form 6 filled up and submitted by those voters whose names were excluded from the draft list.” 

Yusuf Ansari has not lodged a complaint with the ECI, but instead opted to fill new forms for voters' inclusion. “We are getting their names included in the list by filling Form 6," he said.

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