Guwahati, July 14: The state unit of BJP has extended full support to the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being conducted across the country, including Bihar.
In a statement issued here on Monday, the party has expressed gratitude to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for initiating this crucial process.
During voter data collection in Bihar, the ECI had discovered a large number of foreign nationals from three neighbouring countries — Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar — listed in the state’s electoral rolls. Most of these individuals are illegal migrants working as labourers, and over the years, they have allegedly managed to include their names in the voters’ list under political patronage.
According to Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the ECI is empowered to revise electoral rolls and conduct special revisions when required. Additionally, Article 324 of the Constitution of India authorises the Commission to supervise, control and conduct elections.
Similar special intensive revisions have taken place in various parts of the country in 1952, 1956, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2002, 2003, and 2004. Bihar itself had a similar revision in 2003. Through the SIR process, illegal entries are deleted, new eligible voters are added and it helps strengthen the democratic fabric of the nation at the constituency level.
The state BJP also criticised the Congress for opposing the democratic and constitutionally mandated exercise.
“The Congress party, having relied on illegal Bangladeshi Muslim votes in past elections, is now apprehensive about losing its vote bank as these ineligible voters are being identified and removed through this revision. In contrast, during its rule, Congress went so far as to label lakhs of Gorkhas and indigenous communities as “D voters” and suspended their voting rights by marking them as doubtful voters,” Rupam Goswami, convenor, state media department, BJP, Assam, said in a statement.
“The BJP government in Assam has removed the D-voter tag and restored voting rights to genuine Indian citizens. Hence, there is even greater urgency in Assam for such a special intensive revision — not just like in Bihar — to identify those illegally included by Congress in the voters’ list in the name of vote bank politics,” Goswami said.