Tejashwi questions EC silence on SC directive
PATNA, July 18 -- Continuing his attack against Election Commission of India ( ECI) and ruling BJP over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision ( SIR) in Bihar, leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Thursday wondered why the Central poll panel had not taken any step to look into the observations made by the Supreme Court on the petition related to the voters' verification drive.
"We had this perception that ECI is working at the behest of the BJP. Now, it is coming true. After all, why has the ECI not acted on the apex court's directive that certain more documents including aadhaar card, ration card should be considered as proof to establish one's date of birth and /or place of birth as mandated under SIR? Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has not said a word till now and maintained a stoic silence. It only indicates he is doing whatever Amit Shah has told him to do," Yadav alleged in a presser attended by Congress, VIP and Left leaders here on Thursday.
Tejashwi also informed that he would attend the INDIA bloc meeting of all constituents on July 19 at the residence of Congress national president Mallijarjun Khargey. "We will continue to fight against this arbitrariness and partial manner of preparing the electoral rolls under the garb of SIR. It is even surprising that certain reports attributed to sources appeared in the media that 3.5 million voters' names would be deleted, a few days back, Then, the ECI too gave similar figures through a press note. We ask, why are such reports coming about the possibility of striking off names of voters when the SIR process is still on and eight days are left," asked Yadav.
The RJD leader also said the SIR exercise where chances of mass deletions of names was possible would not only snatch people's rights but also their identity. "There is a big conspiracy to deprive a large section of people from government schemes, benefits and reservations by striking their names from the rolls. It is also a conspiracy to deprive weaker sections to vote during panchayat polls," Yadav said.
"We are apprehensive that around 12-15% of voters' names would be stuck off the rolls. Ward representatives and urban local bodies representatives should remain vigilant and ensure that any bid to strike off the name of a voter is resisted," he added.
Yadav also wondered why Nitish Kumar was silent as an NDA ally even as TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu had raised questions on the processes of SIR....
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