Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Monday intensified his attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing it of "voter theft" through mass deletions under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in Bihar. He said the Chief Election Commissioner's (CEC) recent press conference had "raised more doubts than answers" to the concerns flagged by the INDIA bloc.
The remarks came a day after CEC Gyanesh Kumar defended the SIR process, stressing it was transparent and legally mandated. "When more than seven crore voters of Bihar are standing with the Election Commission, then neither can any question mark be raised on its credibility nor the credibility of the voters," he said in New Delhi.
Mr Kumar dismissed allegations of double voting and "vote chori" as baseless, noting that booth-level officers, parties and voters themselves had verified and signed the documents. He urged political parties to point out errors before the September 1 deadline instead of raising objections later, and warned Rahul Gandhi to submit an affidavit within seven days to substantiate his allegations.
But Mr Stalin listed what he called seven unanswered questions that, he said, struck at the heart of the Commission's credibility:
- How could so many eligible voters be deleted despite house-to-house enumeration?
- Why is the enrolment of new voters abnormally low? Were all youngsters who turned 18 on the qualifying date included? Has any database been compiled?
- Will the timelines for enquiries and appeals under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, end up excluding a huge number of voters in Bihar? How will the ECI address this?
- Will these "practical difficulties" be taken into account before extending the SIR to other states?
- When will the ECI act on the DMK's July 17 request to delete only deceased voters, as contemplated in its May 1 notification?
- What prevents the Commission from accepting Aadhaar as a valid document to prove a voter's claim?
- If fair elections are the ECI's true aim, why can't it be more transparent and voter-friendly?
"Voter rights are being trampled in the name of revision. This is nothing but voter theft," MK Stalin charged, echoing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's earlier allegation that 65 lakh voters had been arbitrarily removed in Bihar despite the Supreme Court's warning against "mass deletions."
The Congress on Sunday described the CEC's defence as "laughable" and accused the poll body of "blatant partisanship." The party said the Commission had "answered none of the pointed questions" raised by Mr Gandhi, who launched the INDIA bloc's "Voter Adhikar Yatra" from Sasaram over the weekend.
On Aug 14, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish a booth-wise list of 65 lakh electors excluded from the draft rolls in Bihar during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The order came amid concerns over mass voter deletions in poll-bound Bihar.
The draft roll was published on August 1.
