Congress Says 5 Lakh Duplicates on Final List, Bihar SIR ‘Raises More Questions Than Answers’
New Delhi: The Congress on October 8 questioned the integrity of the 'special intensive revision' of the electoral rolls in Bihar and said that the exercise has raised more questions than answers. In particular, the party said that a preliminary analysis of the final electoral list shows that there were 5 lakh duplicate names, while more than one-tenth of the 67.3 lakh deletions were from 15 assembly constituencies.
In a statement, EAGLE, the election monitoring cell of Congress, said that the SIR “raises more questions than answers.”
The statement said that of the total 67.3 lakh voters who have been deleted, "more than one-tenth of these deletions are in just 15 assembly constituencies."
It also said that there are more than 5 lakh duplicate voters including same name, relative name, age, gender and address in the final list.
“What was the point of the SIR if there are still more than 5 lakh duplicates? How will ECI verify and clean these now?”
Following the publication of the final electoral roll after the SIR the electorate in Bihar has shrunk by almost 6% following the three-month long exercise in the poll-bound state, with about 47 lakh net deletions. The Election Commission is yet to provide reasons for deletions of names, and a consolidated list of those who have been excluded.
'30 lakh people'
The Congress in its statement said that during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections there were 7.72 crore registered voters in Bihar, which implies that about 30 lakh people who were registered as voters in those elections are no longer voters in the assembly elections due in November.
"Who are these 30 lakh people? How many of these people voted in Bihar for the 2024 Lok Sabha election?" the party asked.
The statement also said that while the Election Commission has said that 21.53 lakh voters were added in Bihar, Form 6 (application form for new voters) was only available for 16.93 lakh. The party sought to know if the remaining 4.6 lakh forms are available and were they added without due process.
“The CEC has allowed applications for inclusion up to 10 days before the last date of nomination, the final electoral roll must be frozen on that date. Any Supplementary or Additional Lists published later should not be permitted to alter the voter base. The elections must be held strictly on the list finalised on the last date of nomination,” said the statement.
The party said that leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had been raising irregularities in voter lists and answers to the Congress’ questions will be an important step by the poll body to gain public confidence.
"The Congress party welcomes all efforts to clean voter lists and make them transparent. Answering the above questions will be an important step by the ECI to gaining the confidence of the public about the integrity of voter lists,” it said.
As the election process comes under scrutiny, read The Wire's coverage of the Bihar SIR, opposition's allegations and more, here
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