Mumbai, Aug 17: Shiv Sena(UBT) Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi on Sunday said that political parties must focus on fixing the loopholes in the electoral process and hold the Election Commission of India (ECI) accountable for its decisions and actions.
Recalling that more than two years have passed since the ECI recognised the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena, Chaturvedi expressed concern over the delay in the Supreme Court’s final verdict in the matter.
In February 2023, in what was seen as a major blow to Uddhav Thackeray, the ECI allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and its iconic election symbol (bow and arrow) to the Shinde-led group.
Taking to X, Chaturvedi wrote, “It has been over 2 and a half years battle in the Hon SC for party symbol and party name that was decided by the ECI to be given to those who split the party. The party has been battling this in the SC without any end date for the verdict.”
She further added, “If wheels of justice towards constitutional propriety is so slow, as political parties our fight is to prioritise the loopholes in the electoral process and have the ECI take onus for its action or rather inaction to addressing them. With all due respect to the Hon. Supreme Court.”
Her comments come at a time when the ECI’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar, ahead of the Assembly polls, has triggered sharp criticism from the Opposition.
Several parties have accused the ruling NDA of conspiring with the poll panel to manipulate the voter list.
The controversy intensified after the Supreme Court, in an interim order on August 14, directed the Election Commission to publish an enumerated, booth-wise list of nearly 65 lakh electors who were excluded from the draft electoral roll released on August 1 during the SIR process in Bihar.
Out of a total of 7.89 crore registered voters in the state, the names of 65 lakh people were missing from the draft rolls, even though these voters had figured in the list published after a summary revision exercise just months earlier, in January 2025.
The apex court has now ordered the ECI to put out the list of excluded voters along with the reasons for their omission on the websites of the District Electoral Officers (DEOs) across Bihar.
It further directed that physical copies of the list be displayed on the notice boards of booth-level officers, as well as in block development and panchayat offices, to ensure accessibility for the public.
–IANS