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Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 27 (IANS) Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president and MLA Sunny Joseph on Monday hit out at the State Election Commission, alleging that the hasty decision to conduct summary intensive revision (SIR) of voter lists across Kerala was “politically motivated and undemocratic”.
Joseph said the move to implement SIR without any discussion or consultation was suspicious and ill-timed, especially when preparations for the local body elections were already underway.
“This decision has been taken hastily and with ill intentions. The Election Commission should immediately correct this mistake. It is absurd to conduct SIR amid election preparations,” he said.
Joseph pointed out that Congress had earlier requested that the SIR exercise be postponed until the completion of local elections.
“After considering the genuine concerns raised by the opposition, the Chief Electoral Officer had written to the Central Election Commission recommending a delay. But the Commission completely ignored that advice,” he said.
Terming the move a denial of citizens’ democratic right to vote, he said the Congress had only demanded that ineligible names be removed and eligible voters be added to the existing rolls.
He commented, “Instead, the decision to base the revision on the 2002 voter list is beyond reason.”
He questioned the logic behind forcing voters who had registered in the last 23 years to go through the same process again. “Under what criteria or standards has this stringent direction been issued?” he asked, warning that the practice could lead to widespread confusion and disenfranchisement.
The KPCC president said the Congress would continue to oppose any attempts to tamper with the electoral process for political gains.
“We are committed to protecting the integrity of Kerala’s democratic system,” he stressed.
Earlier in the day, Chief Election Commissioner in Delhi Gyanesh Kumar said the exercise would be implemented in 12 states including Kerala.
In these states this process will start from Tuesday.
In the areas where SIR is being conducted, the existing voter list will be frozen from Monday.
Apart from Kerala, SIR will be conducted in Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal as well as the Union Territories of Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands – making a total of 12 regions covered in the first phase of the nationwide exercise.
As per the scheduled schedule, the draft voter list will be published on December 9.
The voter list revision process in Kerala and other participating states will take place between November 4 and December 4.
The final voter list will be released on February 7.
Incidentally, the move comes at a time when local body elections are due in Kerala in a few weeks from now and assembly elections are due in April/May next year.
–IANS
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