'Misinformation' by a few parties: CEC on SIR

New Delhi: In his first public statement on the controversial special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said it was a matter of serious concern that some parties and leaders were plying 'misinformation' on SIR in Bihar and "firing from the Election Commission's shoulder".

Kumar asked all political parties to instead participate actively in the process of electoral roll 'purification', find errors in the draft electoral rolls and file claims and objections over the next 15 days. No complaints on electoral roll additions/deletions will be entertained after September 1, he emphasised.

The EC's press conference -- the first one by Kumar as new CEC-- came within hours of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launching his 'Vote Adhikar yatra' in Bihar.


CEC Kumar strongly rejected the 'vote chori' allegations being mounted against the poll panel and challenged the complainants to either submit a proof-backed affidavit on the issue within seven days or apologise to the nation, failing which the allegations will be deemed 'baseless'.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, at an August 1 press conference, alleged large-scale electoral roll manipulation in Mahadevapura constituency in Karnataka.

"Without proof, EC will not delete a single elector's name from the rolls on the basis of power point presentations...EC did give a copy of the electoral roll to some people, but the data has been misrepresented totally," the CEC said referring to Gandhi's press conference. He read out the rulebook on the complaints on electoral rolls by a non-elector from the constituency and asked how the EC can shoot off notices to lakhs of electors purely on allegations. The poll panel will stand like a 'rock' to support every single voter, he stated. He said not a single complaint with proof has come from political parties against electors in Maharashtra despite repeated allegations. "It is an insult to the Indian Constitution if election petitions are not filed within 45 days but allegations of 'vote chori' are raised," the CEC remarked.

SIR IN BIHAR

On the necessity of SIR, the CEC cited numerous complaints by political parties over discrepancies in the electoral rolls besides people shifting addresses and retaining two EPIC cards at different constituencies. Similarly, there are dead people who would continue to be on the rolls as the BLO would not be informed of the same by families, he said. He said that the Special Summary revision would not suffice in such cases and hence the need for door-to-door verification based SIR to ensure 'maximum purification' of the electoral rolls.

When asked about the SIR data on Bihar's 7.2 crore valid enumeration forms submitted without due documents and the data on the presence of illegal nationals on the rolls, the CEC said that scrutiny was still being done at multiple levels.