The Election Commission will soon upload the 2003 Bihar voter list on its website, so that around 4.96 crore voters, whose names are mentioned in it, can remove the relevant part to be attached with the calculation form for special intensive revision of the voter list.
As the opposition parties questioned the revision process by the opposition parties, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday told the PTI-language that its purpose is to ensure that no eligible citizen is deprived of voter list and no ineligible person is part of it.
Many opposition parties have said that there is a threat to deliberately excluding voters using state machinery using state machinery.
A senior official said that whoever is opposing this practice is also opposing Article 326, so he should clarify his stand.
Article 326 states that all eligible citizens should be included in the voter list, and those who are not eligible or not citizens of India cannot be part of the voter list.
Election Commission officials said that during the ongoing SIR in Bihar, the Election Authority had advised political parties to later appoint their workers at all polling stations as booth level agents (BLA) instead of extracting flaws in the voter list.
On Saturday, the Commission said that all recognized national and state level political parties have already appointed 1,54,977 Blas. The Commission said that they can make more appointments right now.
BLA is party workers who coordinate with booth level officers (BLOs) during the preparation or amendment of the voter list.
As per the instructions issued by the Election Authority to the Bihar election machinery, 4.96 crore voters – 60 percent of the total voters – who were listed in special intensive revision of 2003, they do not need to present any assistant documents to certify their date, place or birth, except the relevant part of the voter list.
The remaining three crore (about 40 percent) people will have to present one of the 11 listed documents to certify their birth place or date of birth.
Here too, voters whose parents are named in the 2003 voter list, will only have to give documents about their birth place/date. An official underlined that he would not need to give documents about his parents’ birthplace/date as his entry would be considered as evidence in the 2003 list.
“The original process is that each of the remaining three crore voters should be identified, only then his names should be included in the list,” an official said.
Bihar currently has more than 7.89 crore voters in 243 assembly seats. Elections are to be held in the state later this year.
According to the instructions of the Election Commission, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) of each assembly constituency will be responsible for ensuring that while doing revision work, “no eligible citizen is left out and no ineligible person is included in the voter list”.
Election officers will be satisfied with their eligibility before registering the name of every person in the voter list.
The Election Commission said that at present, every voter will be provided calculation form through BLO. Voters can download the calculation form from a dedicated website.
B.L.O. The calculation will receive a copy of the form and will sign the acknowledgment of receipt of the other copy, which the current voter will keep with him.
The ERO will prepare draft rolls based on the calculation forms and documents received. The final intensive amendment in Bihar was made in 2003, the qualification date was 1 January 2003.
Since the eligibility of the voters enrolled in the voter list after the final intensive revision was established, the Commission has decided that such voters do not need to attach any additional documents with the calculation form besides the excerpts of the list.
The Election Commission said, “Thus, CEO/DEO/ERO will make the voter list of qualifying date of 01.01.2003 independently to all BLOs in hard copy, as well as provide online on their website, so that anyone can download it and use it as a documentary evidence while submitting the calculation form.”
As part of intensive revision, Election Officer will go door-to-door verification to ensure flawless voter list. Officials said the tenure of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal assemblies end in May-June next year and the intensive revision of voter lists in these states will begin by the end of the year.
However, since assembly elections are due in Bihar in the end of this year, the Election Commission decided to amend the state immediately.
Amidst the allegations by the opposition parties that the Election Commission had rigged voter data to help the BJP, the Election Commission has taken additional steps in intensive revision to ensure that the names of illegal migrants are not recorded in the voter list.
An additional ‘manifesto’ has been introduced for a category of applicants to become voters or from outside the state. They have to give the affidavit that he was born in India before July 1, 1987, and will have to submit any document certifying the date of birth and/or birth place.
One of the options listed in the manifesto is that he was born between 1 July 1987 and 2 December 2004 in India. They will also have to present documents about the date of birth and birth of their parents.
The Election Commission said that this process has become necessary to ensure many reasons for rapid urbanization, frequent migrations, eligible for voting, not reporting deaths and joining the name list of foreign illegal migrants.
