Opposition Leaders Protest Outside Parliament Against Voter List Revision

Opposition MPs, including Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, protested and raised slogans against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) being carried out in Bihar. The opposition leaders stood together under the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex, carrying posters with 'SIR' written on them.

As a symbolic rejection of the voter list revision move, the opposition leaders threw the posters in a dustbin. Several MPs in the Rajya Sabha have also moved Suspension of Business notices today, urging a discussion on the SIR during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.

"There should be transparency. All political parties should have access to the data provided by the Election Commission of India, so why has it not been provided?" said Priyanka Gandhi. 

Opposition parties have accused the Election Commission and the Centre of deliberately timing the voter list revision to disenfranchise specific voter groups ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls in Bihar.

"They (Centre) intend to deprive the poor of their voting rights and let only the elite vote. They are not abiding by the Constitution," claimed Mr Kharge. 

According to data released by the Election Commission on Wednesday, 56 lakh names have been marked for deletion from Bihar's voter rolls. The 56 lakh names include 20 lakh dead voters, 28 lakh who have moved permanently to another state, 7 lakh individuals registered in more than one location and 1 lakh uncontactable voters.

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi warned the Election Commission that the opposition would not let them get away with the SIR.

"I want to send a message to the Election Commission: If you think you are going to get away with it, if your officers think they are going to get away with it, you are mistaken. You are not going to get away with it, because we are going to come for you," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said outside Parliament, just after the Lok Sabha was adjourned.

He accused the Election Commission of indulging in "cheating" during the voter list revision process in a Karnataka constituency.

He alleged that thousands of new voters aged 50, 60, and 65 have been added to the list in a single constituency and eligible voters above 18 have been removed from the list.

"Today we have 100 per cent proof of Election Commission allowing cheating in a seat in Karnataka. When we decide to show it to you, it is 100 per cent proof. We just looked at one constituency and we found this. I am absolutely convinced that constituency after constituency this is the drama. Thousands of new votes, aged 50 or 60, 65 (are there) in one constituency. Then voter deletion, people who are way above 18," he said.

Yesterday, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar issued a strong defence of the SIR, dismissing opposition allegations of voter suppression.

"The Constitution of India is the mother of India's democracy. Fearing these things, the Election Commission, being misled by such people, pave the way for such people to cast fake votes in the name of dead voters, permanently migrated voters, voters who have cast their votes in two places, fake voters or foreign voters, first in Bihar, then in the whole country," Mr Kumar said.