New Delhi: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of the Election Commission (EC) is akin to a ‘Tughlaqi farman (order)’, Giridhari Yadav, a member of the Lok Sabha from the Janata Dal (United), an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has said.
“The Election Commission has no practical knowledge. It neither knows the history nor the geography of Bihar. It knows nothing. At a time when it is the sowing season…,” JDU MP from Banka told reporters Wednesday. “It took me 10 days to collect all the documents. My son lives in America. How will he do the signatures in just a month?”
The exercise is currently underway, ahead of the Bihar assembly elections scheduled later this year.
The Election Commission of India announced the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar last month, raising concerns in the Opposition over the removal of valid voters from the electoral rolls.
The JDU MP termed the exercise as forcefully imposed, saying, “If you wanted to do it, you should have given us six months; you could have given us more time. This is like a Tughlaqi farman of the Election Commission,” said JDU MP Yadav.
As a party, the JDU has supported the SIR exercise. When questioned about that, JDU MP Yadav said he was only sharing his “personal opinion”.
“It does not matter what the party is saying… It is my personal view. It is my independent view. We are with the party when we go to vote. It is the truth,” JDU MP Yadav said. “If I can not tell the truth, why have I become an MP?”
Opposition parties, especially the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress in Bihar, have criticised the EC move. Former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has termed the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar an “eyewash” and questioned its timing.
Earlier, before the apex court, several petitioners objected to the non-inclusion of documents, such as Aadhaar cards, in the list of documents voters can submit to the EC to prevent the removal of their names from the electoral rolls.
Hearing the petitions earlier this month, the Supreme Court suggested that the EC consider Aadhaar, voter ID and ration cards as acceptable documents for the SIR. The court, however, refused to stall the exercise.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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