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All eyes on SC as Bihar voter roll claims deadline ends today
Congress leader Pawan Khera claimed 8.9 million complaints on Bihar’s voter rolls were dismissed, a charge the Election Commission has flatly denied.
PATNA : As the month-long period to demand inclusion or deletion of names from the electoral rolls of Bihar as part of the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise ends on Monday, all eyes will be on the Supreme Court, which will hear a petition filed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) seeking an extension of the deadline.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera on Sunday claimed that party’s booth level agents (BLAs) had filed around 8.9 million complaints of irregularities in Bihar during the SIR of electoral rolls, but all were rejected by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The poll panel, however, said till date, no BLA authorised by any district president of the Congress in Bihar has submitted any claim or objection on any deleted name.
“The EC keeps getting news planted through its sources that no complaints are coming from any political party. The truth is that the Congress submitted 89 lakh (8.9 million) complaints pertaining to irregularities in the SIR to the EC,” Khera said at a press conference at Bihar Congress headquarters in Patna.
“When our BLAs went to file complaints, their complaints were turned down by the EC. The EC categorically told our BLAs that complaints could be accepted by individuals only, not by political parties,” Khera alleged.
The Congress demands that the entire SIR exercise be re-conducted, he said, adding the “large-scale irregularities” in the SIR cast a doubt on the intentions of the EC.
The office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) denied the charges, saying, “Till date, no BLA authorised by any district president of the Indian National Congress in Bihar has submitted any claim (Form 6) or objection (Form 7) on any name in the draft electoral rolls published on August 1 in the prescribed format so far”.
Later, ECI issued a statement, saying that district presidents of Congress had submitted “letters for deletion of names of 89 lakh voters from the electoral rolls”.
“As per rules of ECI, name deletions can be given through filling up of Form-7 and BLAs of any party could give a petition in a proper format with declaration,” the statement said, clarifying the points raised by Khera and other Congress leaders.
On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear a plea filed by the RJD and others seeking a direction to EC to extend the deadline for filing claims as part of the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls for Bihar.
