Jodhpur (Rajasthan) [India], August 9 : Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi has raised questions over the manner in which the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise is being conducted in poll-bound Bihar and said that instead of relying on documents with people, more documents are being sought.
Opposition parties have been insisting on a debate on the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, and both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have faced repeated adjournments on the issue.
"If I show my Aadhar card, and it turns out to be forged, and the same happened with my EPIC card, then they should delete it. However, this exercise is not individual; they claim they won't see the Aadhar card of any five crore people... How many people have the birth certificate of themselves and their parents? ... SIR is not the issue, but the way they are conducting this exercise is not right...," Singhvi told reporters.
The opposition INDIA bloc has been alleging that the revision process could lead to the deletion of a large number of voters.
Earlier today, the Election Commission reiterated that it has not received a single claim or objection from any political party regarding the draft electoral rolls in Bihar.
"So far, after over a week since the beginning of the Claims & Objections period, not even a single claim or objection has been submitted by any political party," the poll panel said.
The window to submit claims and objections to rectify any errors on draft electoral rolls opened on August 1.
However, the EC has received 7,252 claims and objections directly from the electors with respect to the draft roll till today, said the ECI in a daily bulletin on the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar.
Forms received from new electors on attaining 18 years of age or above are 43,000.
As per the rules, the claims & objections are to be disposed of by the concerned Electoral Registration Officer/Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (ERO/AERO) after the expiry of 7 days.
As per SIR orders, no name can be deleted from the draft list published on August 1, without passing a speaking order by the ERO/AERO after conducting an enquiry and after giving a fair and reasonable opportunity.