SIR of Bihar electoral rolls echoed in Parliament as Oppn protests EC's move
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Should EC let dead people be in poll rolls, asks CEC
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Thursday defended the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of Bihar's electoral rolls, questioning whether the Election Commission should allow deceased persons, permanent migrants and duplicate voters to remain registered amid opposition allegations that the exercise would disenfranchise crores of legitimate voters. Should EC let dead people be in poll rolls, asks CEC Kumar's strident defence came as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi escalated his attack on the poll panel, claiming his party possessed definitive proof of electoral fraud in Karnataka and threatening consequences for election officials. Speaking in Parliament premises, Gandhi declared: 'Not 90 per cent, when we decide to show it to you, it is a 100 per cent proof.' He alleged the Congress had discovered thousands of unauthorised voter entries for people aged 50, 60 and 65 in a single Karnataka constituency, alongside deletions of legitimate voters above 18. 'We just looked at one constituency and we found this. I am absolutely convinced that constituency after constituency this is the drama that is taking place,' Gandhi said, claiming similar manipulation was occurring during Bihar's SIR exercise. 'I want to send a message to the Election Commission: If you think you are going to get away with it, you are mistaken. We are going to come for you,' Gandhi warned. The CEC, in his remarks aimed generally at political criticism with respect to the exercise in Bihar, invoked constitutional principles, asking whether the Election Commission should 'get misled by some people' and 'pave the way for some to cast fake votes in the name of deceased voters, voters who have migrated permanently, voters who have got their votes registered at two places, fake voters or foreign voters, going against the Constitution, first in Bihar, then in the entire country.' 'The Constitution of India is the mother of Indian democracy,' Kumar stated, arguing that authentic voter lists prepared through transparent processes formed 'the foundation stone for fair elections and strong democracy.' 'Perhaps the most appropriate time for this essential thinking for all of you has now arrived in India,' he added, urging citizens to think beyond political ideologies. In a Thursday press note, the Commission revealed that 99% of Bihar's electors had been reached in the revision exercise, with forms from 72.1 million voters—91.32% of the total—already received and digitised. But BLOs and BLAs reported significant irregularities, the panel claimed. Nearly 2.2 million on the rolls were deceased, 3.2 million had migrated permanently, 700,000 registrations were duplicate and another 100,000 were untraceable voters. Despite door-to-door verification, roughly 700,000 electors were yet to submit their forms – the deadline for which was set for July 25. The Commission shared booth-level lists of problematic entries with all political parties on July 20, allowing claims and objections until September 1, 2025. The draft electoral roll will be published on August 1 and distributed to all 12 recognised parties in digital and printed formats. An ECI spokesperson dismissed Gandhi's Karnataka allegations as 'unwarranted' and 'baseless,' noting that Congress had filed no appeals with the District Magistrate or Chief Electoral Officer under Section 24 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. Of 10 election petitions filed in Karnataka, none came from losing Congress candidates despite available legal remedies under Section 80 of the RP Act, 1951. 'ECI is wondering as to why such baseless and threatening allegations are being made against the CEC—and that too now?' the spokesperson questioned. Kumar advised that if an election petition had been filed, Gandhi should 'wait for the verdict of Hon'ble High Court,' otherwise refrain from making 'baseless allegations.'
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Over 2.06 lakh Indians gave up their citizenship in 2024, says Centre
More than 2.06 lakh persons relinquished their Indian citizenship in 2024, the Union government told Parliament on Thursday. Kirti Vardhan Singh, the minister of state for external affairs, told Rajya Sabha that 2.16 lakh Indians had given up their citizenship in 2023. In 2022, more than 2.25 lakh Indians had given up their citizenship. The number was 1.6 lakh in 2021, 85,256 in 2020 and 1.4 lakh in 2019. The minister provided the data in response to a question by Congress MP Anil Kumar Yadav Mandadi, who had sought to know if the Union government undertakes a 'thorough checkup/survey/inspection before acceding to the request of relinquishment of Indian Citizenship'. Singh said that a person looking to renounce their Indian citizenship is required to apply online, following which, either a district collector or a consular officer verifies the original passport. Documents are uploaded and made available to all government departments for their inputs that are to be provided within 30 days, said the minister, adding that a renunciation certificate is issued after this period. In March, the Union government told Parliament that the number of Indians who gave up their citizenship stood at 1.34 lakh in 2018 and 1.33 lakh in 2017. 'The reasons for renouncing Indian citizenship or taking foreign citizenship are personal and known only to the individual,' the Union government had said. It added that it recognised the 'potential of the global workplace in an era of knowledge economy', which had brought about a 'transformational change in its engagement with Indian diaspora'. 'A successful, prosperous, and influential diaspora is an asset for India,' said the government. 'India stands to gain a lot from tapping its diaspora networks and productive utilisation of the soft power that comes from having such a flourishing diaspora.'
