INDIA bloc considers legal action, rallies over Bihar voter rolls revision
On Thursday, a senior alliance leader said that if the Election Commission continues with the revision process without ensuring safeguards, they would be left with no option but to seek legal recourse. Congress leader Pawan Khera, when asked about the possibility of going to court, said all options remain open.During the nearly three-hour-long meeting with the Election Commission on Wednesday, the delegation raised strong objections to the timing and implementation of the SIR. Congress spokesperson and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi alleged that the revision exercise, being conducted months before the state goes to polls, threatens to disenfranchise a minimum of two crore voters, particularly among Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, migrant workers, and those from impoverished backgrounds.Singhvi argued that many voters would not be able to produce their or their parents' birth certificates on such short notice and risk having their names removed from the voter list. He also warned that there would be no way to challenge such deletions once the model code of conduct is in place and courts stop entertaining election-related pleas.Questioning the timing of the SIR, Singhvi pointed out that the last such revision in Bihar was in 2003. 'For 22 years, after four or five elections, were all those elections faulty or unreliable?' he asked. He also termed the exercise an attack on the Constitution, calling it a move towards disenfranchisement and disempowerment.The Congress, RJD, and other INDIA bloc parties have intensified their opposition to the SIR, which has already started in Bihar and is expected to be rolled out in five other poll-bound states - Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal - next year.RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav earlier stated that his party would take to the streets in protest if the names of the poor are arbitrarily removed from the electoral rolls.- EndsMust Watch
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