BJP trashes Cong’s SIR claims, says people punished Mahagathbandhan for defaming country
NEW DELHI, Nov 15: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday issued a detailed clarification after the Congress raised concerns about a discrepancy of nearly 300,000 voters in Bihar’s electoral roll figures released before and after polling.
In a Facebook post, the Congress questioned why Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar mentioned the total number of voters in Bihar as 74.2 million in an October 6 press note, while the Commission’s press release issued after voting pegged the number at 74.5 million.
The party alleged a lack of transparency and sought an explanation for the sudden increase.
Responding to the allegation, the ECI said the figure of 74.2 million voters cited on October 6 reflected the data available after the final publication of the electoral roll on September 30.
This number was based on a special, in-depth revision carried out before the election schedule was announced.
The Commission underlined that the September 30th electoral roll is always treated as the baseline before an election.
However, under election rules, the Commission continued, any eligible citizen can apply for enrollment until 10 days before the last date of filing nominations for each election phase.
This window remains open even after the election is announced, allowing new voters to submit claims for inclusion.
Officials said that between October 1 and the cutoff period — 10 days before nomination deadlines for both phases — the ECI received a large number of valid applications.
After scrutiny, the names of all eligible voters were added to ensure that no qualified citizen is denied the right to vote.
Following the inclusion of these applications, the total number of voters increased by around 300,000, raising the final count to approximately 74.5 million.
This updated figure, the ECI emphasised, was correctly mentioned in its press release issued after the completion of voting.
The Commission maintained that the variation was procedural, lawful, and consistent with established electoral norms.
BJP SLAMS CONGRESS
The BJP on Saturday slammed the Congress for blaming the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls for the Mahagathbandhan’s crushing defeat in Bihar, and said people “punished” the opposition alliance for defaming the country and creating divisions in society on the lines of castes and religion.
After the NDA cruised to a landslide victory in the Bihar polls, winning 202 seats in the 243-member Assembly, the Congress on Friday alleged “vote chori on a gigantic scale”, with Rahul Gandhi saying “we could not achieve victory in an election that was not fair from the very beginning”.
Gandhi also said the Congress and the INDIA bloc will conduct an in-depth review of the poll results and make more effective efforts to “save democracy”.
Reacting to the remarks, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said that by giving a clear mandate to the NDA, people of Bihar have made it clear that they want livelihood, prosperity and development, not the opposition’s “Jungal Raj, mafia and politics of Muslim League and Naxalies”.
“People have punished you for your anti-national misdeeds. People have punished you for speaking against the country, defaming the country, and dividing the country on communal and caste lines,” Chugh told PTI Videos, when asked about the attacks on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise for the opposition’s poll debacle in Bihar.
“Bihar’s mandate is a punishment for the INDI alliance,” he added.
The BJP leader also said that with their “massive” mandate to the NDA, people have sent out a message that they have unwavering trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government’s “policy and intent”.
The two main constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the BJP and the JD-U, recorded a nearly 85 per cent strike rate in the 101 seats they contested each in Bihar. (IANS)
