The Election Commission of India has an immediate task at hand — send a ‘Thank You, SIR’ note to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The Congress leader, while alleging bhayank chori (massive theft) of mandate in a Karnataka Assembly constituency, did the unthinkable. He strongly backed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls that the Election Commission (EC) is holding in Bihar and planning for the entire country.

No, we aren’t suggesting that Rahul Gandhi scored a self-goal. He unknowingly backed the EC’s SIR exercise, which the Congress and other Opposition parties have been opposing, with his “evidence”.

The evidence-gathering was no mean task. The party, for months, painstakingly combed through physical documents, tallying data of around 6.5 lakh voter entries in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly segment.

He alleged “vote chori” of over 1 lakh votes in the seat with 6.5 lakh voters, that the BJP won by a margin of 44,500 votes in the 2023 Assembly election.

While demanding data in digital format for verification, Rahul Gandhi projected the seat to be a test case of the discrepancies in the electoral rolls in the entire country.

In his trademark white t-shirt and aggressive style, the Congress leader alleged five ways of “vote chori“.

Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, bulk voters in single address, invalid photos, and misuse of Form 6, which new voters use to register.

The entire argument and reasoning of the EC for conducting an SIR, beginning with Bihar — the state to go to polls next — is to tackle each of the points highlighted by Rahul.

An intensive revision of the electoral rolls was last conducted 20 years ago. Since then, only summary revisions have taken place.

Discrepancies creep into electoral rolls over time due to migration and illegals surreptitiously joining in. Though summary revisions do update the rolls, but an intensive revision, which involves door-to-door verification, helps in the creation of scrutinised voter rolls.

Also, the linking of voter Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers to their Aadhaar is a way of ruling out multiple and duplicate voting.

“Various reasons, such as rapid urbanisation, frequent migration, young citizens becoming eligible to vote, non-reporting of deaths and inclusion of the names of foreign illegal immigrants have necessitated the conduct of an intensive revision so as to ensure integrity and preparation of error-free electoral rolls,” the Election Commission said in a statement on June 24.

India is a country shaped by internal migration where 30% of the people were migrants as of 2020-21 government data. Such largescale migration might be behind an individual being registered as voters in multiple constituencies. That requires regular intensive revision of rolls and Aadhaar linking to weed out the duplication.

India’s electoral database includes over 99 crore registered voters. Updating the rolls is overseen by District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers, with active involvement of political parties through the BLAs.

To drive home his point on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi cited the example of 70-year-old Shakun Rani, who he said had two EPIC numbers.

“She [Shakun Devi] applied twice in two months. First she applied on September 13, 2023, and then on October 31, 2023,” said Rahul Gandhi.

What is noteworthy is that the election in Karnataka was held in May 2023, and the changes in her case happened after that.

Like Shakun Rani, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Rahul’s Bihar brother also has two EPIC numbers.

The EC had in March said duplicate EPIC numbers were a “legacy issue”, dating back to 2000 when they were rolled out. It said it needed three months to fix the issue.

The fifth point of new voters through Form 6 has been highlighted by India Today Digital as well. The EC needs to ensure at the time of registration that the person is a genuine individual and an Indian citizen.

The first four of the five factors — duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, bulk voters in single address, invalid photos — listed by Rahul can all be tackled through a pan-India SIR.

However, for that, the opposition will have to stop protesting against the exercise. The SIR case is now in the Supreme Court, which is keeping an eye on exclusions. Even political parties have their own booth-level agents (BLAs) who are involved in the process, and can point out any doubtful inclusions or exclusions.

The EC, now with the backing of none other than Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, should conduct a rigorous intensive revision. For, democratic India’s destiny depends on its voters, who should know that their say matters and there is no “vote chori“. For now, the EC has chosen a rebuttal rather than a “Thank You, SIR” note for Rahul.

– Ends

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