Bihar SIR: On August 18, in New Delhi, the Special Summary Revision (SIR) of the Bihar voter list became a major political issue. Priyanka Chaturvedi, an MP for the Shiv Sena (UBT), has criticized the Election Commission of India (ECI) for allegedly deleting a lot of voters. But the ECI has reacted to the growing call for openness by promising to take corrective action and make things clear on the matter.
What Priyanka Chaturvedi Really Thinks
Priyanka Chaturvedi went on X (formerly Twitter) to talk about how worried she was about the news that more than 65 lakh voters were removed from Bihar’s voting rolls. She questioned the timing and process and said it was “deeply worrying for democracy.” To protect the integrity of the voting system, she called for an independent study.
“This is not just a mistake on the part of the clerk; it has direct effects on people’s right to vote.” “The Election Commission needs to be honest and explain how such a large number of votes could be deleted in such a short amount of time,” Chaturvedi said.
In addition to what she said, opposition leaders and civil society activists have also raised red flags and called for a clear system and responsibility in managing the voter rolls.
What ECI Did About the Controversy
As demand grew, the ECI finally spoke out, making it clear that the Special Summary Revision was carried out exactly as the Supreme Court instructed. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that the removals were done after duplicate, moved, and invalid entries were found.
He made it clear that a list of voters who were not registered had already been posted online within 56 hours of the Supreme Court’s order. This made sure that political parties, partners, and citizens could check the information.
“The Commission is fully committed to making sure that the electoral rolls are accurate and pure.” “Any valid complaints or mistakes reported by citizens will be looked into right away,” the ECI said in its statement.
More and more people want clarity.
Even though the ECI gave an explanation, political parties are still worried about the number of deletions and the chance of people losing their voting rights before the next election. Experts say that while cleaning the voter rolls is important to stop fraud and duplication, removing lakhs of names all at once without enough checks could leave out real voters.
Civil society groups are also asking the Election Commission to make the process more open and participatory so that no qualified voter loses their right to vote.
What’s to Come
The problem is becoming more well-known across the country, so it will probably stay a hot topic in politics until the Bihar Assembly elections. People are paying more attention to the ECI, so it might need to improve how it communicates and checks information in order to win back people’s trust in the voting system.
