Opposition Raises SIR Exclusions, BLO Deaths, Election Commission's Bias in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: After the monsoon session of parliament ended over a stalemate on a discussion on the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter rolls in Bihar, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (December 9) saw the opposition seize the discussion on electoral reforms to highlight the holes in the process now underway in 12 states and Union territories.

They also accused the Election Commission (EC) of a lack of impartiality and called for a return to ballot papers, while demanding a change in the law that deals with the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC).

The treasury benches on the other hand said that the opposition should introspect on its poll defeats instead of questioning electronic voter machines (EVMs) and the EC, with Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal also saying that the law to appoint the CEC had been upheld by the Supreme Court.

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies made repeated references to its victory in last month’s Bihar assembly elections.

BLO deaths, lack of constitutional mandate, exclusion in SIR

During the debate, opposition members pointed towards the immense pressure under which booth-level officers (BLOs) were operating during the ongoing SIR and said that the process has become an exercise of exclusion instead of inclusion.

“In West Bengal, 20 persons died, five fell critically ill, 19 persons expired and three attempted to end their lives. Who will be responsible? The Election Commission?” said Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee.

Banerjee also said that the SIR had resulted in deaths not just in West Bengal but in other states as well, including in Uttar Pradesh that has reported ten cases, Madhya Pradesh nine, Gujarat six, Rajasthan three, Tamil Nadu two and Kerala one.

“Three are non-BJP and five are BJP states,” he said.

Banerjee also said that the “SIR is only meant to delete electors” even though the process should provide for inclusion and involve only the authentication of voters.

“Now, Prime Minister Modi decides through the Election Commission who will be a voter,” as opposed to voters choosing the government, he said.

Congress MP Manish Tewari, who opened the debate for the opposition, said that the EC has no constitutional mandate to conduct the SIR.

“The Representation of People Act says that the Election Commission derives its power from Section 21. This means that neither in the Constitution nor in the law, is there any provision of a SIR,” he said.

Tewari said the law mandates that an SIR can only be done after the EC provides in writing why the exercise needs to be conducted in a given constituency.

“I want to ask the government, where are those reasons recorded in writing? The government should place the reasons on the table of the House. What were the complaints that the EC received, what enquiry was done and how did they reach the conclusion that an SIR needs to be conducted? It is unfortunate that this is not even being discussed in court. The country needs to know the reasons why the SIR is being conducted,” he said.

The EC's lack of impartiality and a return to ballot papers

Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav said that if elections are conducted in an unbiased manner, the BJP will not win the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

Referring to the Rampur and Milkipur by-elections, Yadav said that the Uttar Pradesh police had intimidated voters while the EC turned this a blind eye despite written complaints.

“Elections can be won or lost. But why the Election Commission is not impartial is the question. Reforms can only be possible when the Election Commission is impartial,” he said.

Yadav like Tewari said that elections should be conducted with ballot papers.

“Too many questions are being raised on the election process. Developed countries like Japan and Germany have been using ballot papers despite their technological advancement. Why is India not going back to ballot papers?” he said.

“In all by-elections, there hasn't been vote chori [theft] but vote dacoity. If the 2027 elections are unbiased, then BJP will not win a single seat.”

Earlier, Tewari also cited Japan, Germany and the US to push for ballot papers.

“The reason [for returning to ballot papers] was that machines can be manipulated. The Election Commission has to conduct elections. How does it matter whether these are conducted through EVMs or paper ballots?” he said.

Non-INDIA bloc opposition party YSR Congress also supported the idea of a return to ballot papers. Party MP P.V. Midhun Reddy said that in the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections last year, 15% of votes were polled after 6 pm while EVMs' battery increased between voting day and counting day.

“We asked for CCTV footage, we asked for VVPAT, but nothing was provided. When we asked [about] verifying EVMs, they said another set would be given and not this particular set of EVMs. In Hindupur assembly [seat], in one polling station, we polled 472 votes in the Lok Sabha elections and in the assembly elections we won only one. How did we get such a discrepancy on the same day as elections were conducted on the same day?” he said.

Reddy said that countries like the Netherlands had shown how EVMs had been hacked while other countries had returned to paper ballots, and urged that the government should also do so.

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule, however, did not speak against EVMs as she said she had been elected four times through the machines, but said that the impartiality of the poll body is at stake.

“Why are we debating this? It is because a perception has taken shape that the Election Commission is not fair. The Election Commission has allowed its political neutrality to come under serious question,” she said.

Opposition members including Tewari and Yadav said that the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 that provides for the appointment, salary and removal of the CEC and election commissioners should be amended.

Tewari said that the panel to choose the CEC should include the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the Chief Justice of India. In his speech, Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi too had questioned why Prime Minister Modi had granted the “gift of immunity” to the CEC.

BJP and allies

While the opposition members raised questions about the EC's impartiality, the treasury benches accused them of not introspecting after electoral defeats.

Union minister of state (independent charge) for law and justice Arjun Ram Meghwal accused the Congress of vote theft to ensure the defeat of B.R. Ambedkar in the first Lok Sabha elections when 74,000 votes were invalidated. He also called Indira Gandhi’s election in 1975 from Rae Bareli, which was set aside as electoral malpractice, as “vote chori”.

Meghwal said that the SIR had been conducted several times since 1952 and was not conducted in the last two decades.

“The SIR is not being conducted for the first time. The Election Commission has conducted summary and intensive revisions throughout its history. I can provide all dates and who was the prime minister then. A summary revision is a routine provision, while an intensive revision includes house-to-house enumeration.

“In the last two decades there has not been any SIR. There have been rapid urbanisation, migration and other socio-economic changes that have caused changes in residents. This creates wrong or duplicate entries. For this, an SIR is done so that voter rolls are cleaned, and that is why the allegations by the opposition are baseless,” he said.

Meghwal said that “repeated election losses had made the opposition disappointed. They have no other option, no other excuse, that is why they are raising questions. Either they fault the SIR or the EVM, but they don’t see their own failings.”

Union minister and Janata Dal (United) MP Lalan Singh raised the NDA’s victory in the Bihar assembly elections and said the opposition was wiped out wherever Rahul Gandhi conducted his Voter Adhikar Yatra.

“Wherever Rahul Gandhi marched, he didn't win a single seat. They were wiped out in entire districts. Under the guise of electoral reforms, they are attacking the Election Commission,” he said.

Singh said that the Congress’s allies will suffer if they continue to stay with the party.

“Our electoral system is the best in the world and doesn't need any reforms. The opposition wants to attack constitutional institutions,” he said.

Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP Arun Bharti began his speech by saying that the people of Bihar had shown their trust in the NDA, and  that the new government will work hard for a viksit or developed Bharat.

“After Delhi, in Bihar they [the Congress] have been reduced to the single digits. The party which was the single largest has become a single-digit party in Bihar,” he said.

"The Congress has accused EVMs 94 times. The conspiracy that the opposition is alleging is not with the SIR. The reality is that with the SIR, vote bank politics has been defeated. This is not a hurried exercise but carried out for three months. The problem is not in machines but in their thoughts.”

NDA ally TDP suggests electoral reforms

However, unlike other NDA allies, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), while accusing the opposition of not raising questions about EVMs and vote theft in elections where they win, also suggested electoral reforms to be undertaken.

TDP MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu said that the opposition parties should appreciate the Indian electoral system that gave every citizen the right to vote unlike in the history of many Western countries including the US.

“No one asked [about] vote chori when Congress won in Telangana or about EVMs when they won in Karnataka. They only ask these questions when they lose Haryana by a close margin and Bihar by a large margin,” he said.

The TDP MP however also listed a slew of reforms that he sought, including increasing participation among booth-level agents, creating a body to oversee malpractices during electoral processes, amending the anti-defection law for timely resolution of disqualification cases, empowering local governance bodies and fixing tenures of state election commissioners to five years.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.