NEW DELHI: The announcement of special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar by the Election Commission has stirred a fresh political bickering match in the state which is scheduled to go into a high-stakes assembly election at the end of the year.The poll body has taken up the mantle of weeding out foreign illegal migrants from the voting list of six states — starting from Bihar.However, the opposition has caste apprehension over the timing of the review and said that the last revision conducted for Bihar in 2003 took place well ahead elections, giving reasonable time for electors to seek legal remedies for addition or deletion.

Why is EC reviewing electoral rolls?

According to the poll body, it is part of its crackdown on illegal immigrants from countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.The poll panel reminded the constitutional provision that says only Indian citizens can vote. “The Constitution of India is supreme. All citizens, political parties, and the Election Commission of India follow the Constitution,” EC said in a statement.The EC said the special revision has already started successfully in Bihar for verifying the eligibility of each elector with “full participation” of all political parties.The poll panel already has nearly 78,000 booth-level officers (BLOs) and is appointing over 20,000 more for new polling stations, it said.More than one lakh volunteers will be assisting genuine electors, particularly the old, sick, persons with disabilities, poor, and other vulnerable groups during the special intensive revision.Out of the existing 7,89,69,844 electors, 4.96 crore electors, whose names are already in the last intensive revision of the Electoral Roll on January 1, 2003, have to “simply verify so, fill the Enumeration Form and submit it”.

Why is the opposition not happy with this review?

According to Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Kumar Jha, the special intensive revision will drop the names of 37 percent of people from the votes’ list in Bihar, who “only” visit their houses during festivals.“37% of people have to present their birth certificates under this. Most of these people are those who have migrated. They visit their houses only during festivals. It includes the poor, Dalits, backwards, and Muslims. You want to reject them through this procedure because the ruling party is afraid of its survey… The ECI is losing its credibility day by day,” Jha said.Earlier, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien criticised the EC for conducting an SIR, claiming that the poll panel is trying to “bring the NRC in from the back door,” referring to the controversial National Register of Citizens against which there were multiple protests a few years ago.The TMC MP said, “The EC (Election Commission) is trying to bring the NRC in from the back door. In 1935 under the Nazis, you were supposed to be given an ancestor pass. Some proof of paper to show that you are an Indian citizen — is this the new version of that Nazi Ancestor Pass?… All the INDIA bloc parties will take this up in and outside Parliament.”AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi also shot a letter to the poll panel claiming that the electoral roll for Bihar has already undergone a Special Summary Revision, which addresses issues such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, non-reporting of deaths, and inclusion of names of foreign illegal immigrants in electoral rolls — reasons now being cited to justify the SIR.Recalling the last Intensive Revision conducted for Bihar in 2003, Owaisi said it took place well ahead of the 2004 Lok Sabha polls and the 2005 Assembly polls, which gave reasonable time for electors to seek legal remedies for addition or deletion.“To be enrolled in the voter roll, every citizen will now have to show documents not only proving when and where they were born, but also when and where their parents were born,” he had said in a post on X.

What do experts say?

According to constitutional expert Faizan Mustafa, the poll panel has the authority to carry out this exercise and its purpose is absolutely correct.“The Election Commission has the authority to carry out this exercise. Its purpose is absolutely correct — that every person who has the right to vote should have their name on the list, and every person who does not have the right to vote should have their name removed,” Mustafa told news agency PTI.“One good point mentioned in this order is that since the base document will be the electoral roll of 2003, with the qualifying date being January 1, 2003, anyone whose name appears in that electoral roll will be considered a citizen of India,” he added.Political analyst Vivek Singh Bagri said that people from Nepal are coming into Bihar and getting themselves registered as voters.“Bihar is a border state. Nepal is adjacent to Bihar. So many people are coming here to earn their livelihood, and they are not going back. It is very easy to get yourself registered as a voter, so checking each and every voter must be done,” Bagri told PTI.“This is being done in good faith and also it is very tough to cover all the voters in such a short period of time and it must be done,” he added.The assembly election is scheduled for the end of the year, where a high-stakes battle is expected. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — consisting of the Janata Dal (United) led by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and the Bharatiya Janata Party — will face off against the Mahagathbandhan, which includes the Congress, RJD, and Left parties.