EC postpones meeting with multi-party delegation on Bihar electoral roll revision
Poll panel says it has deferred the meeting due to 'lack of confirmation' from participating political parties
The Election Commission (EC) has postponed a scheduled meeting with a multi-party delegation on Wednesday (July 2) regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar due to a "lack of confirmation" from the participating political parties, ANI reported, quoting sources in the poll panel.
The EC on Tuesday (July 1) announced that a meeting with the Opposition parties on the SIR would be held on July 2.
The legal counsel of the Congress, claiming to represent multiple political parties in the matter, reportedly requested the meeting via an email on June 30, seeking an "urgent" appointment with the EC for July 2 regarding the SIR in Bihar.
"In view of repeated conflicting emails being sent by unauthorised persons on behalf of various parties, the Election Commission of India (ECI) will take cognisance only of the heads of political parties who are the official authorised representatives of political parties registered with the ECI, and no other unauthorised person(s)," people in the know told The Hindu regarding the meeting.
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No confirmation from opposition
In separate letters sent to parties including the Congress, CPI(M-L), RJD, Trinamool Congress, JMM, SP and other parties of the INDIA bloc, the EC reportedly confirmed the time and date and asked for the name of the representative from the party.
However, as of July 1, no confirmation had been received from any of the parties, EC sources told the media.
"The commission sought confirmation from these political parties for such a meeting on 2 July at 5 PM. However, the commission has not received any confirmation so far. Hence, the meeting had to be deferred," the sources told ANI.
Poll roll revision
The EC on June 24 announced its decision to conduct SIR of the electoral rolls in Bihar ahead of the state Assembly polls.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Monday (June 30) affirmed that the main objective of the initiative is to avoid any "illegible" voter and ensure that no one is left out of the voter list.
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"As per the Representation of the People Act, you are entitled to vote only in the Assembly constituency where you are an ordinary resident. For example, if you ordinarily reside in Delhi but own a house in Patna, your vote should be registered in Delhi, not in Patna," he said in a statement.
In his statement, the CEC stated that one lakh volunteers have also been deployed to assist the elderly, sick, persons with disabilities (PwD) and marginalised groups in filling up their Enumeration Forms.
SIR sparks outrage
Soon after the EC announced on June 24 that the SIR in Bihar would start a day later, the Opposition parties were reportedly up in arms against the move, questioning the timing as it came just months ahead of the Assembly elections.
Also Read: Discussion: EC's Bihar voter revision sparks disenfranchisement fears
The parties also likened it to an NRC-like (National Register of Citizens) exercise while claiming that a large number of people could lose their right to vote. In a statement, the Congress "firmly" opposed the SIR, calling it a "devious and dubious idea".