The Election Commission (EC), on Saturday, responded to the criticism over alleged voter list irregularities in Bihar, stressing that political parties are involved in every stage of the electoral roll process but failed to raise objections in time.
“It seems that some political parties and their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) did not examine the electoral rolls at the appropriate time and did not point out errors, if any…,” said the poll body, reported PTI.
Ahead of its scheduled press conference in Delhi over the Bihar SIR, the Election Commission said that both physical and digital copies of draft rolls are shared with all parties and uploaded on its website for public access. Parties and citizens then get a full month to file claims and objections. Once the final list is published, it is again shared with recognised parties, along with a two-tier appeals system, explained the poll body.
‘Vote Chori’ Row
The Election Commission’s comments come amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of voter lists in poll-bound Bihar, and Rahul Gandhi’s “Vote Chori” (vote theft) allegations. In an August 7 press conference, the Leader of Opposition in Lok sabha presented Congress’ research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka to claim the theft of 1,00,250 votes.
Earlier in the day, the EC had announced that it will “explain” the Special Intensive Revision exercise ongoing in Bihar on Sunday, August 17, as LoP Rahul Gandhi begins his ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’. The poll body will hold a press conference at National Media Centre, Raisina Road, New Delhi, tomorrow.
The EC, on Saturday, also said it continues to welcome a scrutiny of the electoral rolls by political parties and any elector.
“It will help EROs to remove the errors and purify the electoral rolls which has always been the objective of EC,” it said.
The poll authority also underlined that the system for parliamentary and Assembly elections is a multi-layered decentralised construct as envisaged by law.