The government has agreed to the opposition's demands to hold a parliamentary debate on electoral reforms, with special focus on the controversial Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls ordered for each state, sources told NDTV Tuesday afternoon. The House's Business Advisory Council will decide the time to be allotted for this debate later today, sources added.
Parliament's winter session began Monday with the opposition heaping pressure on the government over the Election Commission-mandated re-verification of voter rolls in each state, including Bengal and Tamil Nadu, two non-BJP ruled states that will hold elections next year.
That pressure rolled over into the second day, prompting Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju to chide the protesting opposition parties, particularly the Congress; the BJP has fired several recent jabs at its arch-rival after another electoral humiliation, this time in Bihar.
Rijiju, who spoke in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, took no names but said, "Two to four parties are disrupting the House. In a democracy, people win and lose. They should not vent their anger like this... By doing this, you are losing the trust of the people."
The opposition, led by the Congress and Bengal's ruling Trinamool, has been fiercely critical of the SIR, arguing that it is a cover for illegally removing bonafide voters – who might otherwise vote for them – from electoral rolls. Both have also pointed to the election in Bihar last month – held after an SIR in the state and which the BJP won by a landslide – to make their point.
And the opposition has also accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of colluding with the Election Commission on this subject. Both the BJP and EC have firmly denied this allegation.
The controversy over the SIR also reached the Supreme Court, which eventually ruled in favour of the Election Commission, reasoning the top poll body had the authority to conduct a review.
Since then the controversy has extended to pressure being allegedly put on BLOs, or booth-level officers, to complete voter list re-verification. This became a particular hot-button topic after several BLOs died, either by suicide or otherwise, and others complained of that pressure.
On Monday there was a massive protest outside the Election Commission's Kolkata office as BLOs in Bengal pushed back over mental health and working conditions.
Also on Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha the government is not averse to a discussion on SIR or electoral reforms, but urged the opposition to not insist on a timeline. The opposition, however, insisted otherwise, walking out to make its point.
Earlier that day Rajya Sabha Chairman CP Radhakrishnan disallowed notices given by nine opposition members, including one demanding a discussion on SIR, leading to furious protests.
BLOs are ground-level workers who go door-to-door to add new voters, correct details, and remove duplicate or ineligible names, often travelling long distances despite holding day jobs.
