ECI says 15mn forms given out in Bihar, but people flag problems
Patna/New Delhi, July 5 -- Nearly 87% of the 79.6 million voters in Bihar have been given semi-filled enumeration forms for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Friday but many ordinary people said they were facing problems.
The forms were distributed during the first visit of the booth-level officers (BLOs) to nearly 15 million households, the poll watchdog said.
Under the SIR exercise, the first in the state since 2003, voters have to give documents to prove their date and place of birth along with the forms being distributed in all districts - if their name doesn't figure in the 2003 rolls. There are a total of 11 documents an elector can provide.
The poll watchdog has said that the exercise will eventually be carried out nationwide. Opposition parties allege the move will disenfranchise millions of voters.
In Bihar, some alleged that BLOs were not carrying the 2003 roll and asking people to submit documents even if their name was in the 2003 list. "The exercise should have been done much earlier. We cannot just leave our work to procure documents," said Prashant Kumar Sinha, a businessman in Danapur.
Puspa Kumari, a resident of Nehru Nagar, said that her old mother had no documents to submit. " From where would I now get my mother's birth certificate or matriculation certificate? We do not have land papers either. Now, I would have to apply either for a permanent residency certificate or a birth certificate. This is just harassment,' she said.P8...
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