Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday laid out various points and dismissed allegations of “vote chori”. This comes as the INDIA bloc including the Congress and RJD have been raising questions against the Special Intensive Row (SIR) in Bihar.
The CEC also said that politics being done in the name of the ECI would not deter it from performing its constitutional obligations transparently.
Also Read: EC Vows Support For All Voters, Rejects Political Targeting
CEC Raises Key Points
Here are the key points the CEC raised during the media briefing:
1- Describing the Bihar SIR exercise as completely transparent, CEC Kumar said, “Rumours are being spread about the exercise even though draft voter lists have already been given to political parties.”
2- “There is no question of the ECI’s image being tarnished as over seven crore voters and all stakeholders are standing firmly with the poll panel,” Kumar elaborated.
3- The CEC added that in Bihar, since August 1, over one lakh new electors, who have turned 18 after the SIR exercise, have filed forms for inclusion in the voter list.
4- The election office has so far received 28,370 claims and objections from electors concerning the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar.
5- "Some voters have alleged instances of double voting. However, when evidence was sought, no response was given. Such false allegations neither intimidate the Election Commission nor any voter," he added.
ECI's Bihar SIR
The election body concluded the enumeration phase of the SIR from June 24 to July 25. More than 7.24 crore electors, out of a total of 7.89 crore, submitted their enumeration forms during the exercise. As per IANS, around 65 lakh voters were found to be missing from the draft electoral rolls published on August 1.
The SIR exercise in Bihar has been attacked by the Opposition parties over alleged irregularities, which they allege threaten to deprive lakhs of voters of their right to vote - a charge denied by the ECI.
The ECI’s media briefing came on the day when Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav launched a “Vote Adhikar Yatra” in Bihar.
(with IANS inputs)
