Patna (Bihar) [India], September 11 : Calling Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the "Bhishma Pitamah" of corruption, Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav said on Thursday that the public "will take revenge" in the upcoming elections for mismanaging the state, including for alleged increased crime, corruption, and sheltering criminals.
"Crime is increasing in Bihar, The Chief Minister and deputy CMs are sheltering criminals. There is not even a single day when criminal activities are not taking place in the state. Corruption has increased in Bihar. Nitish Kumar has become the 'Bhishma Pitamah' of corruption, In collusion with the retired officials, they are looting Bihar and the public will take revenge in the coming elections," Rashtriya Janata Dal leader told reporters in Patna.
Amid the possibility of carrying out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls across the country, the RJD leader further thanked the Supreme Court for allowing Aadhar card to be included as a valid ID. He said that they are not against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) itself but rather the way it has been carried out.
"I thank the Supreme Court for allowing Aadhaar as an Identity Document for the SIR. This is a big victory for us. We are not against the SIR but are against the process by which SIR is being carried out," he added.
Earlier on September 10, the Election Commission (EC) held a conference of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all States and Union Territories, and assessed the preparedness for the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. This was the third Conference of Chief Electoral Officers this year. The conference was inaugurated by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in the presence of Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.
A presentation on the strategies, constraints and best practices adopted was made by the CEO of Bihar so that the CEOs of the rest of the country learn from their experiences, said EC in a press note.
To ensure that there is a uniform implementation of the Commission's initiative to ensure that no polling station has over 1,200 electors, the status of rationalisation of polling stations was also reviewed.
The CEOs also provided suggested documents for the purpose of ensuring that no eligible citizen is left out of the Electoral Roll and no ineligible person is included in it. It was reiterated that these documents should promote ease of submission for the eligible citizens.