New Delhi [India], July 7 (ANI): All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday warned that lakhs of people in Bihar could lose their citizenship and livelihoods if the Election Commission proceeds with its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls without adequate time and safeguards.
Calling the process rushed and impractical, Owaisi said even a 15-20 per cent error rate could have devastating consequences for marginalised communities ahead of the state elections.
Speaking after visiting the ECI office in Delhi, Owaisi said, “…Even if 15-20 per cent of people are missed from the list, they will also lose their citizenship… We are not against Special Intensive Revision (SIR), but time must be given.” He stressed that the exercise, if conducted hastily, would not just deprive people of their voting rights but also threaten their right to livelihood.
“If someone’s name is removed, that person will not just miss his/her vote, but it is an issue of livelihood as well,” Owaisi said.
The AIMIM chief added, “Our only issue is how the Election Commission can implement such an exercise in a short time? The people will face this problem, and we have presented these issues to the Election Commission, highlighting the practical difficulties.”
Earlier, the Supreme Court agreed to hear on July 10 a batch of petitions challenging the ECI’s decision to conduct the SIR in Bihar. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi allowed senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Gopal Sankaranarayanan and Shadan Farasat to serve advance copies of the petitions to the Election Commission.
The petitioners, RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam, have sought the quashing of the ECI’s June 24 directive that requires voters to submit proof of citizenship to remain on the rolls.
The petitioners have argued that this move imposes fresh documentation requirements and wrongly shifts the burden of proof onto citizens. They warned that this could disproportionately affect poor and marginalised voters in rural Bihar, particularly in the absence of widely held documents such as Aadhaar and ration cards.
“The SIR order, if not set aside, can arbitrarily and without due process disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, thereby disrupting free and fair elections and democracy in the country, which are part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” ADR said in its petition.
Manoj Jha, in his plea, alleged that the revision was being used “to justify aggressive and opaque revisions of electoral rolls that disproportionately target Muslim, Dalit and poor migrant communities”. He added that the exclusions were “not random patterns but are engineered exclusions”.
Amid the criticism, the Election Commission on Sunday said the SIR process was progressing smoothly with active cooperation from electors on the ground. It said the initial phase of distributing Enumeration Forms was nearly complete, with forms made available to all electors who could be reached.
According to the Commission, as of Sunday, 1,69,49,208 Enumeration Forms, representing 21.46 per cent of Bihar’s nearly 7.90 crore registered electors ( 7,89,69,844 ), had already been received. In the past 24 hours alone, 65,32,663 forms were submitted.
The Commission added that electors have until July 25 to submit documents, and those whose names appear in the draft rolls to be published on August 1 will have further opportunities to provide documents during the scrutiny and objection period.
“During the past 4 months, all 4,123 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), all 775 District Election Officers (DEOs) and all 36 Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) have held nearly 5,000 meetings with 28,000 political party representatives,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said. “No one was satisfied with the current status of electoral rolls for one reason or the other.”
The ECI also claimed that 77,895 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are going door to door, helping electors fill and submit forms. It further said that over 20,000 additional BLOs had been appointed and that nearly four lakh volunteers, including government employees, NCC cadets and NSS members, were helping the elderly, persons with disabilities and vulnerable groups.
Additionally, the EC said more than 1.5 lakh Booth Level Agents appointed by political parties were actively supporting the SIR process. (ANI)
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