New Delhi, September 9: Former Union Minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday criticised the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, calling the exercise “flawed”, “farcical”, “laughable” and “unconstitutional”. He questioned the large-scale deletion of names from voter lists and said the Election Commission should be responsible for determining the eligibility of adult citizens to vote.
Speaking to ANI about the SIR exercise, Chidambaram said the process had raised serious concerns, citing instances where the names of prominent personalities were reportedly deleted from electoral rolls.
“The SIR is a flawed process. It is a flawed exercise. Even Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's name was deleted. Yesterday, we saw that Professor C.N.R. Rao's name was deleted,” he said.
Chidambaram argued that Indian citizens should not be required to prove that they were born in the country to establish their eligibility to vote.
“If I'm born in India, when I reach 18 years of age, I will be entitled to vote. I don't have to prove that I was born in India. I have to prove that I am 18 years of age. It is for the Election Commission to prove,” he said.
“Every adult citizen in India is presumed to have been born in India until you prove that he was not born in India and he came into India as an immigrant or an illegal immigrant,” he added.
Questioning the scale of deletions during the exercise, Chidambaram claimed that 13.30 crore names had been removed across three phases. He said the numbers did not support the argument that the deletions were primarily linked to illegal immigration.
“In phase one, 65.1 lakhs were deleted. In phase two, 6.5 crore were deleted. In phase three, 6.1 crore were deleted. If you look at the adult population number and the deletions, it amounts to phase one, 7.9 per cent were deleted. Phase two, it increased to 12.6 per cent, and in phase three, it increased to 17.18 per cent. So overall, deletions are 13 crore 30 lakhs,” he said.
“Surely, 13.30 crore did not come into India from Bangladesh or any other place as illegal immigrants. To state that is laughable; it's farcical,” Chidambaram added.
He also questioned the effectiveness of the appeal mechanism available to voters whose names have been deleted. Referring to the situation in West Bengal, the Congress leader claimed that a large majority of appeals had resulted in the reinstatement of voters' names.
“Some BJP bucks say you can file an appeal. What happened in West Bengal after filing an appeal? 82,782 appeals were disposed of by the judges appointed for that purpose, and of that, 75,433 appeals were allowed, and the names were reinstated, which means 91 per cent of the appeals have been allowed,” he said.
Chidambaram further claimed that around seven lakh appeals had been filed and said that, at the current rate of disposal, the process could take decades.
“Now, if you look at the number of appeals, it will take 20 years to dispose of these appeals. I am told 7 lakh appeals have been filed. It'll take at this rate 20 years to dispose of the appeals,” he said.
“Once it is disposed of, assuming 91% are allowed, 6 crore people are entitled to be reinstated in the electoral roll. For 20 years, they cannot vote in several elections. So this whole process is farcical; it's laughable, it's illegal, it's unconstitutional,” he added.
His remarks come amid continuing political debate over the SIR exercise and its impact on electoral rolls in several states.
Meanwhile, in Karnataka, Bengaluru Urban District Election Officer and BBMP Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao clarified on Wednesday that no notice had been issued to Bharat Ratna recipient and eminent scientist Professor C.N.R. Rao in connection with the SIR exercise in the Malleswaram Assembly Constituency.
The clarification followed media reports claiming that a notice had been served on Rao.
According to an official statement, the State SVEEP Nodal Officer and the Commissioner, BBMP West, visited Rao's residence and handed over Enumeration Forms to him and his family members. The required information was subsequently filled in.
The statement said Rao was listed in the 2002 electoral roll under the name “Rama”. He is currently registered as “Professor C.N. Rao M”, and his name has been included in the draft electoral roll.
During the SIR hearing process, the Booth Level Officer noted the discrepancy in his name and recommended that his name be included in the final electoral roll without issuing any notice. Necessary action is being taken to include his name in the final electoral roll, the statement said.
Meanwhile, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has sought a further four-week extension for electors to file claims and objections against deletions during the SIR exercise in Telangana.
Owaisi visited SIR centres in Hyderabad's Karwan constituency on Tuesday and claimed that several voters had received notices over discrepancies in the electoral rolls.
The Election Commission on September 7 revised the SIR schedule for Telangana, extending the claims and objections period to October 7 from September 16. The final electoral rolls are scheduled to be published on November 9.
Owaisi also alleged that some living voters had been marked as deceased in the draft electoral rolls.
The draft electoral rolls were released on August 17, while notices were generated for more than 92 lakh electors over discrepancies. More than 73 lakh names were excluded from the list under the Absent, Shifted, Duplicate and Dead (ASDD) categories.
