DNA TV Show: EC to launch nationwide voter list overhaul exercise, but what is its purpose?

The Election Commission (EC) has announced plans to carry out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across the country. It is currently going on in Bihar. But its political heat is being felt in the capital, Delhi, in the monsoon session of Parliament. There was such a ruckus against SIR inside and outside the House. Outside the Parliament House, opposition MPs raised slogans with poster banners near the Gandhi statue, and LoP Rahul Gandhi symbolically tore the poster of SIR and threw it in the dustbin.

Besides, on the last day of the monsoon session in the Bihar Assembly, opposition MLAs also protested wearing black clothes and raised slogans demanding the withdrawal of SIR. But amid the protests, the Election Commission made it clear that after Bihar, it is going to start a special campaign to update the voter list across the country. 

What is the purpose of the special scrutiny campaign of the voter list?

It is the constitutional duty of the Election Commission to ensure an accurate and updated voter list of all citizens aged 18 years and above, for which it is necessary to remove the names of those who have died, remove the names of those who have more than one voter card, remove the names of those who no longer have Indian citizenship, or if a person has shifted from a particular place to another, then his name should be removed from there.

It is necessary to do this to maintain the principle of one person, one vote. This was needed because the last time SIR, i.e. voter list revision, was done in Bihar was in 2003. Since elections are to be held in Bihar in 3-4 months, SIR is being done.

The voter list is currently being checked in Bihar. The voter list will be published on September 1, after which those whose names have been left out or deleted will also get a chance to appeal. But before the voter list is checked, the political temperature is high from Bihar to Delhi, those who are opposing it say that it is a difficult task for migrant labourers, students to submit the necessary documents within the time limit.

Opponents also argue that the Aadhaar card is not being considered as a citizenship identity card, and opponents also feel that the names of migrants will be removed from the voter list on a large scale. SIR opponents also claim that it is becoming a means of checking citizenship, and due to this, a large number of people can be deprived of the right to vote.

But what is required to become a voter?

No Indian is a voter by birth or citizenship. For this, he has to fulfil some necessary conditions. Regarding Bihar, the BJP claims that by checking the voter list, the names of infiltrators, Bangladeshis, and Rohingyas will be removed from the voter list, but the opposition feels that this entire exercise is being done only and only to prevent the poor from voting in the elections.

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Having the name of an ineligible person in the voter list is as wrong as not having the name of an eligible person. Therefore, the opposition parties are targeting the Election Commission and the Central Government by deriving their own meanings regarding the Special Intensive Revision, but they should clearly understand that right now, this is happening only in Bihar. Soon, the Election Commission will inspect the voter list in this manner in the entire country. Wherever assembly elections are to be held. The next number will probably be one of those states.