Leaders of 23 Opposition parties and an Independent Member of Parliament have written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, expressing concern over the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. The letter seeks judicial intervention, alleging that the exercise could disenfranchise genuine voters ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.
The signatories include the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), DMK, Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction), CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), National Conference, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and several other Opposition parties, along with Independent Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal.
In the letter, the Opposition urged the Chief Justice to take suo motu cognisance of the issue or have the matter listed before an appropriate Bench. The parties argued that the voter verification exercise, if carried out without adequate safeguards, could result in the wrongful deletion of eligible voters from the electoral rolls.
They also questioned the Election Commission’s decision to undertake the Special Intensive Revision at a time when Bihar is preparing for Assembly elections. According to them, the process places an unnecessary burden on voters to prove their eligibility and could create confusion among the electorate.
The Election Commission has defended the exercise, stating that the revision is intended to update electoral rolls by removing duplicate, deceased, shifted and otherwise ineligible entries while ensuring that all eligible citizens remain enrolled.
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