DNA TV Show: Why is there a row over Bihar voter list revision?

In the last few years, most incidents of bridge collapse have happened in Bihar. But bridge collapse is not an election issue in the poll-bound state. LoP Rahul Gandhi went to Bihar on Wednesday and joined the protest in Patna. Leader of Opposition in Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav, was also with Gandhi in the protest. Elections are to be held in Bihar after a few months. But neither of them reacts to any incident of bridge collapse. Perhaps the issue of infrastructure is not on the agenda of the two leaders.

The issue of the voter list was at the center of the protest that took place in Bihar on July 9. The Election Commission is getting the voter list verified in Bihar. In protest against this, the Mahagathbandhan, i.e. the opposition parties, had called for a bandh in the entire state. During the bandh, trains were stopped in many cities. Traffic was blocked at many places.

Why is the opposition in Bihar focusing on the just voter list?

The Election Commission (EC) has been screening the voter list in Bihar since June 25. Its purpose is to remove infiltrators from the voter list. EC has asked for 11 documents to identify citizens. Aadhaar card, ration card and MNREGA job card are not included in these documents.

EC vs Opposition on voter list

The commission says that it wants to remove illegal immigrants and dead voters included in the voter list through fake Aadhaar cards and MNREGA job cards. Opposition leaders said that the EC cannot amend the voter list. By doing this, the commission wants to remove Muslims and immigrants from the voter list.

The opposition has the biggest objection to not accepting the Aadhaar card as an identity document. The Election Commission argues that there can be fraud in making Aadhaar cards. Opposition leaders are saying that Aadhar is valid in all government schemes, then why is it not valid for the voter list?

According to a 2024 report, 92.47 per cent of people in Bihar have Aadhaar cards, but Seemanchal of Bihar has more than 100 per cent Aadhaar cards. Kishanganj has 105%, Araria has 102%, Katihar has 101% and Purnia has about 101% Aadhaar cards. That is, more Aadhar cards have been made than the number of people in these districts. How did this happen?

24 assembly seats in Seemanchal

Seemanchal is the area of ​​​​Bihar where the demography has changed rapidly. It is alleged that the population balance has changed here due to infiltrators. There are 24 assembly seats in Seemanchal. Here in the 2020 assembly elections, AIMIM surprised everyone by winning 5 seats. Seemanchal's Kishanganj has 68 per cent, Katihar has 45 per cent, Araria has 43 per cent, and Purnia has 39 per cent Muslim population.

The Mahagathbandhan has its eyes on this vote bank because this vote bank votes en masse. That is why perhaps opposition leaders like Rahul and Tejashwi did not raise the issue of the bridge collapse in Patna. They did not talk about development. They did not call for a bandh when the bridge collapsed. They protested to stop the amendment to the voter list and demanded to stop the correction in the voter list.