TMC MP Sushmita Dev seeks discussion on SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar

New Delhi [India], July 23 (ANI): Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sushmita Dev on Wednesday submitted an Adjournment Motion in the Rajya Sabha, seeking a discussion on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

In her letter to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha, the party MP alleged that the government had been using the Election Commission of India (ECI) to push an exclusionary agenda under the guise of a voter list revision, aimed at stripping voting rights from large sections of society.

She further stated that the exercise threatened to disenfranchise two crore voters and particularly targeted the poor, migrants and marginalised communities by demanding documents such as the parental birth certificate, domicile proof and other records which most citizens did not possess.

She also alleged that the exercise appears to be a mechanism to exclude voters rather than a genuine attempt to update the electoral rolls.

Even widely accepted identity documents like Aadhaar and ration cards were initially excluded from the verification process and even after a widespread public outcry, the Election Commission is reiterating the same. The exercise, being conducted during monsoon floods and peak migration season, makes it logistically unrealistic for lakhs of citizens to comply, raising serious apprehensions that this is a mechanism to exclude lakhs of voters rather than a genuine electoral update, the letter further read.

Meanwhile, Congress MP Manickam Tagore also submitted an Adjournment Motion notice in the Lok Sabha to discuss the SIR being undertaken by the Election Commission in Bihar ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.

In his notice, Tagore labelled the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise as dangerous and unconstitutional.

He accused the Narendra Modi government of using the election commission to disenfranchise the poor and the marginalised communities in Bihar.

This House do adjourn to discuss the dangerous and unconstitutional moves by the Modi Government to use the Election Commission as a tool to systematically disenfranchise the poor, backward, Dalit, and marginalised communities in Bihar by means of the SIR mechanism, thereby violating the fundamental right to vote granted by the Constitution, as envisioned by Babasaheb Dr BR Ambedkar, the notice read.

Tagore alleged that the SIR exercise was a move to revive colonial practices, where only property-owning classes had the right to vote, while the masses remained excluded. He claimed that the government action reveals a Manuwadi mindset. (ANI)

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