Bihar Voters List Intensive Revision:
Attempt to Bring NRC through Backdoor

The intensive electoral roll revision launched by the Election Commission in Bihar, just ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state, is raising huge concerns as this sudden initiative is to be seen as a move to disenfranchise large sections of the voters,especially from the minorities and weaker sections.

In Bihar such a revision is taking place after 23 years, and it leaves very little time for the electors to produce proof of their citizenship as the revision process is scheduled to be completed in three months, by September 30. According to the EC notification, all electors will have to produce proof of their place and date of birth to be eligible to be included in the new list. For those born after 1987, they will have to produce the same documents for their parents also to be eligible to vote. Those who were not enlisted in the 2003 revision will also have to produce proof of their citizenship to be included in the fresh list.

The Election Commision has also indicated that such an intensive verification will soon be carried out in Bengal, Kerala, Tamil nadu and Puducherry, where elections will be held in the coming months. Intriguingly, the EC seems to be focusing on the states where Opposition parties are in power. What is more significant is that most of these states are having a sizable Muslim population.

The BJP government had earlier lunched the National Population Register (NRC), which turned out to be a massive witch-hunt for the Muslim population as millions of people were put into the category of D, which meant the veracity of their citizenship claims were doubtful. It was a terrible experience that reminded people of the way the Nazi regime in Germany made similar efforts to remove large sections of people from the country’s citizenship in the 1930s.

Many opposition political parties have raised concerns about the proposed move by the Election Commission at such a short notice. Many of them have pointed out that the move would disenfranchise large sections in our society who are firmly opposed to the present regime led by Hindutva forces, like the minorities, Dalits, Adivasis and other weaker sections besides the youth who are bitter about the lack of jobs and economic opportunities. The BJP and allies are determined to recapture power in Bihar and dislodge the incumbents in Bengal, etc. To achieve their objectives, they are willing to use every tool including deliberate removal of voters who are angry with their misrule from the electoral rolls. The Election Commission is playing second fiddle to the ruling party in their nefarious schemes.

This is a very unfortunate situation as it calls into question the impartiality and credibility of the electoral process and the EC itself. There have been allegations of massive corruption in the electoral process in states like Maharashtra, where the ruling party appears to have forced the EC to toe its own political interests. Despite such allegations being raised in public by even the Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha, there have not been any credible steps on the part of the Election Commission to remove misgivings and ensure credibility of the electoral process.

The SDPI calls upon the EC to take immediate steps to ensure that the sudden move to launch the intensive revision of electoral roll in in Bihar is suspended. Any hasty steps would mean disenfranchisement of large sections of our people, which no doubt would prove to be a terrible and irreparable blow to the process of electoral democracy in India.

Mohammad Shafi
National Vice President