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New Delhi, Oct 27 (IANS) Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Monday shared a detailed outline of the second phase of the nationwide implementation of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) for verification of electoral rolls. However, he avoided giving a direct response to the campaign, which faced strong opposition from political parties, some of whom strongly opposed it.
CEC Gyanesh Kumar, responding to IANS’ question on ‘politicization’ of the voter verification drive in Bihar, said the Election Commission does not believe that political parties have opposed the SIR in the state.
Referring to the CEC’s first press conference on Bihar SIR in August this year, the IANS correspondent recalled the poll panel’s observations that political parties, especially the Grand Alliance, had opposed it in the state and asked whether they had resorted to misleading voters for electoral gains.
The CEC was so careful that it did not directly point a finger at any political party, including the opposition, but instead tried to wash its hands of the controversy by claiming that the poll watchdog does not comment on political statements.
Corroborating his claims, CEC Kumar said, “Along with the Booth Level Officers (BLAs) and voters, around 1.6 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) worked actively on the ground. It was not the BLAs alone, district presidents of political parties also contributed actively. Similarly, at the state level, all political parties coordinated with the CEOs and welcomed the process.”
Notably, the state witnessed a political uproar over the ‘purification’ of voter rolls a few months before the Bihar Assembly elections, with the Congress-led opposition launching a scathing attack on the Election Commission, accusing it of acting as an ‘agent’ of the ruling BJP to twist the election results.
The CEC, while holding a press conference in August this year amid the SIR controversy and allegations of vote theft, had hit back at the opponents (opposition) and accused them of derailing and defaming the voter verification exercise for their political interests.
Notably, after the Election Commission introduced SIR in Bihar, it saw fierce opposition from the opposition, as it launched a strong campaign against it – claiming that it was nothing more than an attempt by the poll panel to “steal votes” for the ruling party.
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav also took out a 16-day ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar to intensify the attack against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in the poll-bound state.
–IANS
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