Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], July 12 : Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday criticised the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, calling it a politically motivated move.
Citing the Supreme Court's observation that even the judiciary does not have the authority being exercised by the EC, Gehlot said, "What bigger taunt can there be?"
"Everyone knows about the way the BJP run the governance with Nitish Kumar on the front... The environment of Bihar is in favour of the INDIA alliance. When I went to Patna, I saw there might be a change," Gehlot said.
He questioned the feasibility of the ECI's SIR exercise just months ahead of elections.
"Election Commission is conducting SIR a month before the elections, while it is impossible to survey two crore people..." he said. "A Supreme Court judge said this authority is not with me, what bigger taunt can there be?" he added.
On ticket distribution for the Bihar elections, he said, "Everything will happen smoothly..."
Gehlot also referred to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's article that questioned the Election Commission's functioning during the Maharashtra elections. "The election commissions began the survey a month ago, and they are trying to cut the names of people who have been voting for 10 years. If the intention was to add new names, people might have accepted it, but this is unacceptable," he said.
Commenting on the state of democratic institutions, he added, "If democracy is to be strengthened, then the CBI, ED... should also be strengthened. These are the premium agencies, but were misused by the government. The environment in the country is not good anymore. People do not trust each other these days."
On Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed the Election Commission to continue with its exercise of conducting a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi did not stay the SIR process but asked the ECI to consider allowing Aadhaar, ration cards, and electoral photo identity cards as admissible documents to prove voter identity during the SIR of electoral rolls being undertaken in Bihar.
"We are of the prima facie opinion that in the interest of justice, the Election Commission will also include documents like Aadhaar, Ration Card, Voter ID card, etc. It is for the ECI to decide whether it wants to accept the documents or not, and if it does not, then provide reasons for its decision, which shall be sufficient to satisfy the petitioners. Meanwhile, petitioners are not pressing for an interim stay," the bench stated in its order.
In its order, the top court noted that the timeline for the process is very short since elections in Bihar are due in November.
The apex court posted for hearing on July 28 the pleas challenging ECI's move to conduct SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar and asked the poll panel to file its affidavit within one week.
During the hearing, the bench opined that Aadhaar should be included within the list of documents permissible as an ID proof.
The apex court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging the Election Commission of India's move to conduct the SIR of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
The petitions challenging the ECI decision were filed by RJD MP Manoj Jha, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PUCL, activist Yogendra Yadav, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and former Bihar MLA Mujahid Alam.
The petitions sought a direction to quash the ECI's June 24 directive, which requires large sections of voters in Bihar to submit proof of citizenship to remain on the electoral rolls.
The petition also raised concerns over the exclusion of widely held documents like Aadhaar and ration cards, stating that this would disproportionately affect the poor and marginalised voters, especially in rural Bihar.