New Delhi: Election Commission should not have “institutional arrogance”, and stop the Special Intensive Revision exercise underway in Bihar, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said on Sunday.
At a joint press conference held here along with CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, RJD MP Manoj Jha and CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu, Singhvi said that the exercise being undertaken by Election Commission has become a “citizenship test” and questioned its legality.
He urged the poll panel to roll back its decision to hold the exercise before state assembly polls.
“I humbly request the Election Commission, this is not a matter of political obstinacy. It is not a matter of institutional arrogance. Please reconsider it. Everyone is urging you,” he said.
Singhvi questioned the need to hurry with the exercise ahead of state polls, and asked if it was a citizenship test.
“Various statements issued by the Election Commission indicate that this is a citizenship exercise,” he said, adding, “It has said in repeated statements why Aadhaar, election photo identity cards or ration cards are not being accepted. This means they want evidence of citizenship. The question is, does the Election Commission have the right to examine citizenship?”
“The court will look into the different aspects of this exercise. But if the Election Commission do not have institutional arrogance or political obstinacy, it can easily stop this now and do it after the election. There is absolutely no reason to link it with a particular election in two months,” Singhvi said.
CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said that the poll body’s “self-congratulatory” claims are corroborating their apprehensions.
“They are making all kinds of self-congratulatory and misleading claims. We heard that names of over 65 lakh voters will be removed. Election Commission’s claim is basically corroborating our apprehension,” he said.
“The Election Commission has made one very false claim that they have shared this with political parties. We have received data about pending enumeration forms, which were not submitted,” Bhattacharya said, adding that the process lacked transparency.
Pointing out that a summary revision was done this January, he also questioned the poll body’s claims about the 22 lakh death figure.
Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Manoj Jha said political parties were not consulted about the exercise, and called it the biggest exercise of disenfranchisement since independence.
“I hope the Supreme Court will look at this seriously. There has not been another attempt of disenfranchisement at this scale in independent India,” Jha said.
CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu called it an exercise to disenfranchise the poor.
“We have an inclusive democracy. The idea is to make the election process as universal as possible. This exercise is against the basic idea of democracy,” he said.
Election Commission on Sunday said enumeration forms from 7.24 crore, or 91.69 per cent, voters have been received during the Special Intensive Revision exercise in Bihar. They said 22 lakh people have died, 36 lakh people have either permanently shifted or not found, and seven lakh Bihar voters were found to have enrolled at multiple places.
