How could 2 years' work be accomplished in just a month? Digvijaya on Bihar SIR

Guna, Oct 28 (PTI) Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday said the last special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar was conducted in 2003 and took two years to complete, but the same exercise was done this time in just one month and covered 7 to 8 crore voters.

The former CM said in Madhya Pradesh, which is among states where the Election Commission (EC) will conduct phase two of the SIR of electoral rolls between November-February, the Congress will ensure deletion of invalid votes at every polling booth and addition of electors who have been left out.

"The (last) SIR was conducted in Bihar in 2003. It took two years to complete the exercise. How they have now completed SIR for 7 to 8 crore voters in just one month...this is incomprehensible. As many as 62 lakh voter names were deleted, and 20 lakh added. Five lakh voters were added even though they had had not even applied for inclusion. We are suspicious of the type of report they (EC) have prepared (in Bihar)," Singh told reporters.

He was replying to a query about the EC announcement of conducting phase two of the SIR (phase one covered Bihar) of electoral rolls in 12 states/Union Territories between November and February.

He noted that the criteria for SIR stipulated that those who voted for the first time after 2003 must prove they are citizens of India and their vote should be added in the rolls.

The EC has listed 11 documents for citizenship verification, but they have not included Aadhaar card in the list despite the Supreme Court's directive, Singh maintained.

"This is objectionable, and all political parties should make efforts in this matter (to push EC to accept Aadhaar as a proof of citizenship)," he opined.

"We also need to see that the Supreme Court has not yet made a decision on the petition (regarding SIR). This is also a matter of concern for us," Singh stated.

Regarding the SIR in Madhya Pradesh, he said the state Congress has taken significant initiatives in this regard.

"Our effort is to ensure deletion of invalid votes at every polling booth and addition of those who have been left out," the Congress veteran emphasised. PTI COR MAS RSY