The much debated Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Bihar crossed a key milestone on Friday, hitting the July 25 enumeration form submission deadline- reporting 99.8% electors covered but also near 60.5 lakh electors names set for deletion due to a variety of reasons.
As the Election commission heads to the crucial Phase 2 of SIR, the stage, in fact, is set for an even stronger debate for four key reasons .
In the Supreme Court
First up, on July 28- just before the ECI publishes the draft electoral roll of Bihar on August 1- the Supreme Court will hold a key hearing on the ongoing SIR which EC is aiming to take nationwide.
The ECI has already filed its counter affidavit defending the SIR, its right to ascertain the citizenship of an elector during an ‘intensive’ verification, the equal amount of time for enumeration given in 2003 in Bihar and the difficulties in including Aadhar, ration card and EPIC among its 11 documents of proof.
The apex court’s view on the matter will be closely watched for it could offer critical fuel to ECI’s national SIR mission or dampen it.
Political opposition to SIR, however, is going strong both in and outside Parliament and is expected to sharpen further over alleged ‘disenfranchisement’ of electors which brings us to the second major concern that arises hereon.
The missing elector
Over 60 lakh voter names are set to be removed from the draft electoral roll of Bihar for several reasons.
The poll panel has stated that nearly one lakh persons are ‘untraceable’- forms for 1.2 lakh people have not been submitted, 22 lakh electors are dead, 35 lakh have either migrated out permanently or remain untreatable and as many 7 lakh were found registered as electors in multiple constituencies.
Unless they prove otherwise, they will not be restored on the September 30 final electoral roll of the state that is set to go to election before November 22.
The foreign hand
EC sources earlier have said that Booth Level Officer (BLO) visits had revealed presence of ‘a large number’ of Bangladeshi, Nepalese and Myanmar nationals on electoral rolls and all such cases would be referred to the competent authorities, if so confirmed.
The Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, himself, raised a strong point on Thursday questioning if one can be comfortable with fake electors and foreigners on India’s electors list besides the dead.
This brings to fore a third major question.
What is the geographical spread and density of these 60 lakh electors set for deletion? It has been suspected that the Seemanchal districts of Bihar,-bordering Bangladesh and Nepal- may be one such site but it will only be known for sure after August 1.
The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), further, also reserves the right to imitate a ‘sou moto inquiry’ if he finds an elector’s case suspicious. Notices for the same will be issued post August 1.
The ERO will rely on ‘field enquiry, documentation or otherwise’ to decide on the same and pass a ‘speaking order’ – an order detailing a clear cut justification- for the same.
All such cases will also be referred by the ERO to the ‘competent authority’ under the Citizenship Act, 1955 but will also have two appeal rights over a span of 45 days.
This is, however, a list that is bound to come under intense political and electoral scrutiny and leave several questions in its wake.
The missing document
The fourth concern is on the larger issue of document submission.
While the ECI has been insisting only on submission of duly filled enumeration form by July 25, it has not done away with the requirement of proof of birth- for oneself and parents- as per the 1987/2004 citizenship act categorisation.
While ECI has not yet shared data on document submission, it can be expected that a significant number of the 99.8% forms with EC- may not yet be backed by documentary evidence.
From August 1, EROs, therefore, will also seek documents where required from the 7.23 crore electors.
How many of these 7.23 crore electors will make it to the final electoral roll will be borne out over the next few weeks when the process of ‘claims’ for inclusion and ‘objections’ seeking exclusion of electors plays out between August 1 to September 25 by which time ERO must address all of these so that the final roll can be published by September 30.
All claims and objections will be displayed on the CEO website as well as in the ERO office. There will be political oversight as well as the ERO will have to share these lists with political parties on a weekly basis. That this will come so close to assembly polls in the state could make it a sensitive matter as well.